Thursday, January 13, 2011

What an Interesting day!

Today was a day I would call, Interesting! Interesting is one of those words that can have various connotations. One may use the word interesting to mean, intriguing, thought provoking, and an all around positive set of circumstances. It can be used to mean odd, undesirable, inadequate, challenging, or and overall sense of disappointment. A third way that interesting can be used is in describing a day that maybe indifferent, indescribable, and outwardly neutral.

When I use the term interesting to describe today I am referring to the third definition, meaning that there were times where it was interesting according to meaning one and times when it was interesting  according to meaning two, but I really can not discern whether either one was predominant!

There were some challenges today on many fronts. I wasn’t sure if it was the first hurdle of the fast, that my back is still hurting pretty bad after three weeks, or if it was because I woke up to a freezing house today? No matter what the reason, I faced some pretty big challenges.

The back pain that I have been dealing with is some sort of sciatic problem. You see when I moved back to Bradenton, I decided to get my life in shape, not just my spiritual life but my physical life as well! In the last few months I have become what I would call a beer connoisseur. I ventured years ago in the world of wine and felt I had a pretty good handle on that so I merge into beers this past summer and fall. Needless to say when one of my friends says he works out so as to eat cheeseburgers and drink beer, he wasn’t kidding! If you are not working out and you start to drink a few beers, boy do you put on the pounds!!! So I decided to work on my physical body as God works on my spiritual body. Well I have a tendency to really jump into things with both feet, and wouldn’t you know it I injured my back or sciatic nerve, so of course, no more working out! I prayed and asked God to please heal me and help me loose the weight that I have gained because I’m struggling with getting rid of it! Living in constant pain for weeks and taking ibuprofen every day just to function is really wearing on me. Then yesterday I remember back to when I did Pilates how they always talked about flexibility, so I thought perhaps that would help? So I signed up for a class and went tonight. It was great and afterwards I felt wonderful! I thought about how perhaps I would not have thought of going to Pilates if my back had not been hurting me this much. Sometimes God will use pain to push us in the right direction. I thought about the gym and the personal trainer and how it never felt quite right, but I wanted results, now! Then God said, “Lori, some things, take time, and it’s going to take a little time to get to where you want to be.” “You always want to rush things and most of the time that just doesn’t work,” He continued. “Just be patient with things and with you. I know what you and your body can handle!” He quickly reminded me that this is a physical representation of what is happening in my spiritual life! I need to be patient and learn the lessons that come in the in between times, in between beginnings and endings.

One friend and I were speaking one evening about how being a Christian is like having a part in the orchestra. We are in such a hurry because we want to learn our instrument and our part and do it well to please the conductor. But then it occurred to me, what if the symphony, the masterpiece, is not in the ending, but in the along the way? Just a thought!

Praise God that the heat is working!! Thanks to my Dad and Brother who spent most of the day here fixing it so that we could be warm tonight! And I really wanted to stop for a beer and a real nice meal after my Pilates class but I didn’t. There was one challenge that I simply had to run from today, but I think that is okay. I stumbled a little before I ran, but I think when you can’t stand up against a challenge it’s okay to run, because God has got your back! He’s got mine! And I know He’s got yours!
Blessings!

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