Teaching Bones

…There is a season for everything…  a time for healing; a time for knocking down, a time for building.  A time for tears, a time for laughter; a time for mourning, a time for dancing… Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

It’s been pretty quiet here at Joyful Words and for that I apologize.  It turns out, I though I was a little larger than life and God has used the past two weeks to serve me some patience and humble pie.  I was quite sure that I would bounce right back from my knee replacement surgery.  My surgeon is a phenomenal doctor and the new knee he gave me was walking without a cane by day three.  I was amazed at the mobility and overall fanciness of my two new knees.  I began to look at my three weeks off school and I compiled a magnificent list of things to do; I was even thinking I would probably be heading back to school at least a week early.  Then things changed.  It was at about the week one mark it became very clear that my body and my mind were on two very separate schedules.  It seems bone healing isn’t something I can assign a time table to.  I offer this observation not as a complaint because I absolutely know how very fortunate I am.  I know this pain is passing and I know despite my feeling of complete uselessness right now, I will bounce back quickly and hardly remember any of this.

Last week the reading from Ecclesiastes was God telling me to stop bossing him around. I suppose every now and again I get tangled up in the belief that God loves me when I’m busy.  He loves me when I’m productive and teaching, writing, reading or working.  I believe that its’ my “DOING” that  he loves so the better I DO the happier he is.  Nothing like a throbbing femur bone at 3 in the  morning to get your attention.  I’ve also been schooled the past ten days in timing and deadlines and I’ve been acutely aware of my fabulous ability to compare apples to oranges!  My sweet daughter reminded me that in May when I got my first knee I was teaching from home and the pace of the world had screeched to hault.  I wasn’t missing my kids and coworkers so much because they weren’t at school either.  I wasn’t worried about somebody picking up my slack because nobody was in the building.  I didn’t have to worry about what school outfits I could wear these ridiculous compression hose with because my school outfits were sweats!

There is a time for everything…even if you don’t like it!  I can’t make bones heal faster or make sleep come.  I can’t crank out a bunch of work when the only thing my body is screaming at me to do is sit still and heal.  This little hiccup in my September has given me the chance to re-think my puny range of control on anything.  I’m beginning to realize that all he asks is all I have…anything I have…everything I have even when it’s impatience and a dented pride.  Not one single thing in this world would be different if I was going back to school this week instead of next week.  I’m pretty darn certain I wouldn’t get into heaven any easier if I could be back to full function by tomorrow morning.  Instead of trying to be the Bionic Woman, I should shut up, sit still and practice being Patient Woman or Humble Woman or better yet, HIS Woman.  I’ve had a pretty big dose of “be still” when what I think I was pushing for was a big ole dose of “The Gospel According to Sheri”.  Instead of saying, in this Joyful Words silence, “I have learned”  it’s much more accurate to say, “ In this silence, I’ve become acutely aware of some lessons I need to work on!”  Perhaps they might just be a lesson for you too! 

A Seed To Plant:  Where are three places you are trying to be the boss?​

Blessings on your day!