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?

Pain of Freedom

   In our world of I can do it without any help, thank you very much, we often assume that freedom means a release of pain. Freedom seems to be seen as something which lets you be carefree and without any sticky and messy attachments. But freedom can be something that is quite painful. I heard the other day how Frederick Douglass seriously considered staying in a life of slavery because the transition to freedom was going to be so painful. He was going to have to say good-bye to dear friends and family and venture into a new life. Freedom awaited him, but so did pain, and this led him to put off the decision to leave a while longer. Imagine the world without Frederick Douglass, if he had not taken his place in the use of his gifts and been instrumental as an abolitionist. Douglass wrote upon leaving, “‘A new world had opened upon me.’ ‘Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted, but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil.’”

   We can learn from this that when we move from the slavery of sin to the freedom of righteousness that it may be a difficult, painful, and wonderful thing.

Misunderstood Covering

   We have been having heat advisories here nearly every day. I know it’s hot when the walk from my car to the office leaves my sunglass rims hot enough that they are uncomfortable against my face. The high humidity and heat leave me craving cool weather, cool water, cool air – cool everything! So, as I climb into my car after such a hot day and crank up the air conditioner, I wonder for a few minutes if it is making any difference at all. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the air cools a bit and then a little more. In the time between the air conditioning really taking strong effect and the initial blast of heat, it seems that nothing is occurring. And yet, cool air is really slowly moving in and the space is cooling off.

   I think that something similar happens with headaches and taking a couple over the counter pain pills. A pounding headache, burning eyes, and piercing straight into your skull from any lights doesn’t necessarily go away from two ibuprofen. And yet, when the pain pills wear off, it comes to light how much they were really helping.
   It is the same way with God’s peace. God moves in his own way, and speaks with a still small voice. We often think nothing is happening, that nothing is changing. And then the pain is diminished, the air is cooled and we realize that there was something happening all along.

Healing

I noticed a few days ago, that I am healing. I had a bad leg injury several months ago, which left me couch bound and hobbling for quite some time. What happened? Well….

September of last year, I was in Ottawa and fell on a cobblestone sidewalk. Falling, and finding myself having a much closer view of the concrete than I had wished for, I pushed myself back up and found a low wall to sit on. Breathe in, breathe out, that is all I concentrated on for a few minutes. Finally, I steeled myself to look at the ankle which was apparently confusing itself with a golf ball holder. I made it back to Iowa wearing a borrowed ankle boot protector thing.
Physical therapy, a different boot, and very flat shoes followed. But, just this last week after walking about five miles, I was sore the next few days. I could feel the muscles complaining. Complaining, but not injured, a little sore but not debilitated. It was a realization which hit me again, my leg is healing!
From pain that took my breath away and led the world to dim before my eyes to a small complaint, it didn’t occur overnight but it did occur. Healing from bad sprains (I won’t go into the more gross injury parts), healing from emotional hurts, from hopes that have been dashed or plans that have been crashed, healing does occur. It is not quick, not overnight, but gradually one day – you realize that you just walked five miles and feel great!

Signs of Birth

Highway signs tell us which way to go, they point us to the right road, to take caution on tight turns, even duck crossing. There are other signs, like the signs an expectant mother goes through before birth like pains, growing pressures that can let her know the baby is soon to come.

Jesus provided sign posts to his disciples, cautions of the days that were coming. Jesus left the temple and warned them about the temple, “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left one another; everyone will be thrown down,” (Matthew 24:1-2). That news must have been very disturbing to hear. In a time of unrest, with Rome increasingly brining pressure to bear on the people, and now the Pharisees were leading a rebellious stance from another side.

The disciples came to Jesus, they wanted to know what was going to happen. The unknown is a very frightening thing, especially when it is a frightening unknown. Jesus provides some caution signs, “Watch out for those who would deceive you, even when there are rumors of war and wars, nations rising against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, famines and earthquakes.” The signs are like caution signs, but also are described as the beginning of birth pains. The pain and pressure were building.