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How Quickly We Atrophy & Need “Discipline”

Posted on December 8, 2009
Filed Under Personal |

“Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:10-11

Well, I had planned on writing about the various “crises” that seem to be pressing in upon us and try to pull back the covers and recognize why some have a vested interest in promoting a “crisis” or even manufacturing one.

However, because you all have been so kind and so many indicated they were praying for me, I thought I would give you a quick update.

Okay, here’s the skinny. My leg didn’t seem to be improving, in fact, I thought it was getting worse, so I went to get a second opinion. That led to an orthopedic appointment on Monday and that led to an appointment with the Physical Therapist this morning. He confirmed that I had a severe tearing of the gastrocnemius muscle and other things. (I have been reading a lot about the human leg and have become fascinated with the complexity of the bones & muscles and ligaments & tendons and blood vessels & nerves that make up this part of our body. What an amazing piece of machinery! It almost looks like someone “designed” it!!!)

Now, some of you may not be familiar with Physical Therapists.

I am.

Having participated in virtually every sport possible and being the over zealous, under-talented athlete that I am, I became familiar with the physical therapy world. My daughter is a Physical Therapist and she has been consulting me over the phone through all of this. She is a wonderful daughter and restrained herself from asking why in the world I keep doing these things. In addtion, I have no less than 4 very close friends who are Physical Therapists. (You know I am setting something up here…)

Anyway, with all great affection for all of the Physical Therapists in the world, PTs (as they are called) are in the business of hurting you. Now, they don’t do this out of a mean spirit (except for one big PT guy I had years ago whose name was Gunther…I think he actually enjoyed hurting me) but they do this because they know that getting you well is going to sometimes require going through some pain. Kinda like “no pain, no gain”. And they know that we are usually adverse to pain, especially our own pain, and so they are the agent who will help us achieve wellness by forcefully helping us through the agony. These professionals know that to help us, they sometimes have to hurt us.

My PT today didn’t disappoint me.

But a lot of the pain or discomfort I experienced today was because my leg and muscles and joints had atrophied in the short 10 days since I injured myself. For example, I had kept my knee bent to protect my leg. Therefore my knee joint had gotten a little “frozen”. And the muscles in my leg and ankle were severely tight because I hadn’t been using them. I needed some severe “discipline”!

Isn’t it amazing how quickly things atrophy and freeze up when we don’t use them. This is true for our physical bodies, but it is just as true for our mental and spiritual well-being.

Are you in a “dry period” that has kept you from exercising your mental and spiritual muscles and tendons? The more you leave them idle, the worse it really becomes. Sometimes we need a spiritual PT to kick us in the…right direction.

That’s where close friends are like gold.

And that is exactly what our Father provides for us as well…through His Hand, His Spirit…and His children. Hmmmmm…sometimes we kick against the one thing we desperately need.

Well, my very professional and well-trained PT gave me a list of disciplined exercises and things to do to speed the healing process. After he carefully went over every thing he wanted me to do and how many times a day, I silently thought: “This is going to be a full time job”.

But, it will be worth it. Most discipline is.

I now have my leg in a “soft cast” or “boot” (the black boot with a thousand Velcro straps) with the promise to my PT that for the next two weeks I will faithfully hurt myself (within reasonable limits, of course).

But, the best thing was that I was cleared to travel this weekend to Tampa, where I will be meeting with some Truth Project leaders and attendees, speaking to college and high school students and delivering the chapel message to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and attending their game on Sunday.

Now, I had to talk the PT into agreeing to this. He hesitated for a long time after I asked him. Then I told him I would hurt myself all the way to Tampa.

He smiled and said, “Okay.”

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