Recently, I awoke in the middle of the night, vaguely aware of a sensation I couldn't quite place but couldn't shake either, knowing only that it felt familiar in a déjà vu sort of way. Seconds later my retrospection was replaced by an urgent call to action. I hurried to the bathroom and grabbed a tissue, just in the niche of time. And there I sat, four decades past some of the most embarrassing memories of my childhood, employing all the old tricks I once knew so well to try and stop my nose from bleeding. What in the world? I could no more imagine where this nighttime nosebleed had come from than I could stop the flood of memories and long buried emotions.
Time and again in my early childhood, I was forced to hit pause and sit on the sidelines of whatever activity I'd been engaged in because my nose had started bleeding yet again, without warning and without any apparent cause. I remember the doctors telling my parents not to worry. They were sure it was something I'd outgrow. Thanks, Doc.
I thought that was pretty self-serving seeing as they weren't the ones being ridiculed every time it happened. "Ugh! Shellie's nose is bleeding again," my classmates would taunt if it happened at school. "Can you go somewhere else and do that?" my older sisters would say if it happened at home. The message was clear. Blood may be a necessary reality, but it's definitely not socially appealing. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't stop it if I tried.
The other night as I sat there reliving that childhood angst, I thought about how often I sense a similar unease from people about the blood of Jesus and the mighty work of the cross. For the most part, God is a generally acceptable name to drop in almost any conversation, especially here in the Bible Belt.
But mention Jesus Christ and the blood of the Lamb and you'll be taking the risk of upsetting the balance of many a public discourse. Indeed, things can get messy quick when blood is involved. It's something this country girl knows full well, and yet, because it is the very blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from sin, redeems us to God, and offers all comers abundant life now and eternal life later, I can't stop proclaiming it. What's more, I won't even try.
Shellie Tomlinson of Lake Providence is author of three books, owner and publisher of the Web site All Things Southern and host of a daily radio show and weekly TV segment by the same name. Contact her at tomtom@all thingssouthern.com.
