October 2, 2023
Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you. ~ Philippians 4:9 CEB
Most people would say that I am disciplined, but I realize (once again) that I am not very disciplined in some things. I have put lots of miles on my joints, as an athlete, as a runner, and now as a walker. I’ve had arthritis in my right knee for a number of years. I have a very creaky patella, one arthroscopic surgery under my belt for a torn meniscus seven years ago, and occasion steroid injection have nursed me along.
I rehab hard, considering it an athletic feat of sorts. But then…I feel better, and neglect the very exercises and stretches that helped me recover. I figure it’s fixed. Warming-up and doing preventative exercises isn’t nearly as satisfying as hiking or playing pickle ball or running around with the grandkids.
An errant move on the pickle ball court followed a few days later by a weird twist while swimming with the grandkids did me in. A steroid shot didn’t do the trick. And last Thursday I had the first of three Synvisc injection and was sent home with a sheet of exercises. They were familiar. I encountered some of them when rehabbing my knee before. And some of them are exercises and stretches I’ve used to rehab from hip replacements.
When I started doing the exercises, it was immediately apparent that I couldn’t rest on my laurels of having done those exercises years ago. I need to practice these good things regularly. The same applies to my spiritual life. Practice these things.
Time to get up and stretch. ~ Anne
Wayfinding 