The dad pushing a little dark skinned beauty on the swing next to Gianna wondered why we came to Walnut Creek for the kids to play at the park. We had been chatting and I mentioned we live in Martinez. I told him my wife wanted to ride her bike on the canal trails and this was a good place for her to start from; where also I could hang out and watch the kids. He nodded, accepting that answer as completely logical and kept pushing.
Ah the irony. There I stood trying to track Ella's laps around the park on her bike, and keep a squealing giggling pendulum in motion, while my wife pedaled alone through Walnut Creek.
It's my knee again. I followed up my Mt. Diablo Almost Marathon on Saturday with a 5 mile hike through the emerald green hills in Briones on Monday. Wanting to "loosen up" some stiff muscles, and anticipating an easy hike, I brought Gianna in the jogging stroller. I did loosen up, but it didn't end up being easy. Tuesday I felt great - except for a twinge of pain in the left knee.
By Wednesday the pain was predominant, and Friday morning at 8:01 I called Kaiser Orthopedics to see if there were any openings. Around 2:00 pm the doctor and I were chatting about the infection in the bursa wreaking havoc on my swollen burgundy colored left knee. Antibiotics 4 times a day, ice, and no running for at least a week till I met her again. "Go to the Emergency Room if you come down with a fever." Stink.
The antibiotics go down with food, so that's OK.
I'm not fond of the ice, because that means I have to sit still at least 3-4 times a day.
But not running or cycling for a whole week? - Not as hard as I thought. 3 days into my abstinence I'm certain I could run if I had to, but frankly have no desire. Walking is a chore. Cycling is out of the question. Yet absence does make the legs grow twitchy - or something like that.
So Saturday I watched my wife ride away on her bike while I sat on the park curb with an ice pack on my knee. When she returned I was spooning banana chunks into a 14 month old and chatting politely with the other domestics. Textbook role reversal.
At church last night a fellow deacon asked me - "so what are you learning from this?" (Referring to my halting gate, and segmented transitions from sitting to standing) "I'm not sure that I want to learn anything from it," was the gist of my reply.
But he knows me better than that.
"I want to learn that I can be content in all things, and that in spite of pain, loss and disappointment I can still face life with alacrity and maintain joy. I want to learn to live like God is enough for me."
Apathy vs Alacrity.
And somewhere in the middle is me.
Psalm 31:7 "....for thou hast considered my soul in trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities."
ReplyDeleteOne thought keeps running through my mind and am going to put it down. I don't know what you are going to do with it, but maybe it will quit running through my mind. Pastor Monroe keeps saying--"It is not about us, it is about God."
My mother heart is so sorry that you are having problems with your knee. However, I am comforted that God is your Father and He uses these "light afflictions" to "work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Many times I wish I could get a peek at the "weight of glory", for I think that would make it all easier. But what just came to my mind was: What we see of Christ in the Scriptures----that is it. God is conforming us to the image of His Son. Then, though "it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him."
And we are all aware that we do not get to choose what God uses to conform us. I know that my ideas never are the same as His. And since His wisdom far outweighs mine, it stands to reason that the ideas are not the same. ---Until I get on His page, so to speak.
Psalm 144:3 "Lord, what is man that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!"
YET---"Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."
Please, do not think that I am not "preaching" at you----I am sharing what God is pointing out to me. And I needed to hear it. And I love these times when God keeps bringing verses to mind and tying them all together. Your blog posts usually make me think, so you are the lucky or not so lucky receipent of the grand compilation of "profundity."
Your mother, of course.