Knees

   Over the last few months I have been nursing a knee injury that finally led me at a doctor and physical therapy. The doctor thinks that the fat pad under the knee cap has been pinched and is irritated. When I momentarily got over the fact that he said fat pad and must be a brave (or nutty) fellow to ever tell a woman such a thing, I was ready to listen to all the instructions. One of which again must have led to a look between confusion, consternation, and just plain a lack of translation. The instruction boiled down to, in a nutshell – if it hurts you, then don’t do that. Do something else. Well, by the end of the day, walking hurts, sitting hurts – what am I supposed to do? It is really hard for me to give myself permission to sit and rest this leg. I have found myself trying to consolidate trips into the other room or down the hall. So, why if I know that this joint needs to rest is it hard to rest?

   We have heard mention of the Puritan work ethic, to not be lazy. But, when is it okay to rest? When do we seek out rest? And yet, we have such a wonderful example to look at. God creates the world. He pulls it all together in it’s tiny and great complexities and then rests. He doesn’t rest because of fatigue. He rested as an example. There was no thought of laziness, lack of productivity. My knee hurts. I’m going to rest it and not feel guilty. After all, what better example could I follow?