Sunday, December 28, 2008
Then and Now, and Tomorrow
As I think about this year that soon will end, thoughts and events of it seem to overtake me. About this very day last year I rushed my son to the nearest hospital, and then watched carefully how he got through some serious surgery, and he did, and made it our first 2008 miracle.
Somewhere in all of it, my thoughts about writing a great book got side tracked, and still aren't where they need to be. When I thought life might slow enough for me to catch up with it, the presidential race took flight, and everything else slowed tremendously.
What seemed like a not so important thing then, happened while I was celebrating leaving work, by digging a deep hole in the yard, and planting a lovely rose in it. At first I didn't hurt to extreme, but within a day or two, knew I was in trouble, and had to see an orthopedic doctor who began a change in life for me, from unusual dexterity, to leaning on crutches, which continued a month or two, then left me with a limp that increased until I got this unruly knee checked again, and now I'm looking at surgery on it. My son I rushed to the hospital last year, will soon be helping take care of me while I go through it.
My town hosted the Democratic Convention, and since I couldn't work much with this knee getting worse, I helped out at the election headquarters, for weeks. I will never forget seeing the marked change in our phone surveys; those calls that irritate so many. I would gladly put up with some unwanted phone calls, to get someone in the White House who would care about my needs. I realized voters were turning toward the man who now will lead our country, and for me the election was over.
My knee still hurt, sometimes a lot, but it's amazing what adrenaline can do, even to an aged knee. If it needed repairs, I would deal with it after the presidential election. It might be in bad condition, and it's turned out that it is, but our country was in worse.
When our stock market crumbled this time around, I was almost making history, from being born in the long ago Great Depression, and perhaps spending my last years in the one we're in now, and the irony of this scares me. But it's going to take more than what I've seen of it, to completely get to me.
To launch this new year, I will seriously list more new resolutions, to work on improving me. My newest one is to learn a foreign language. The one that's more needed here, as our population shifts, is Spanish. I'm not good yet at speaking it, but almost every day I learn more words, and while I'm not mobile after this knee surgery, I can learn even more, and with some unexpected but appreciated serendipity, may meet somebody somewhere who can teach me how to speak it. The nice thing about living through a tough depression, is that you learn how to manage without things, and are so much stronger because of having done it.
Today our pastor shared an overall plan of growth for our church in this coming year. He used a quote of scripture that our race in life should be directed toward Jesus Christ, our Lord, and talked about how we were running superbly; (this from chapter 5 of Galatians) It asks "Who cut in on you?" stating further that the detour we've made didn't come from the One who called us into the race in the first place.; that our life long journey should always lead us to He who died for us.
Mere knee surgeries, or widespread depressions in our country, are nothing our Lord cannot handle, but only part of His bigger plan for us. My task is to make sure my new year's resolutions are in line with His. You may want to keep this in mind while you're making yours, for he really does hold this entire old world in His loving hands.
Somewhere in all of it, my thoughts about writing a great book got side tracked, and still aren't where they need to be. When I thought life might slow enough for me to catch up with it, the presidential race took flight, and everything else slowed tremendously.
What seemed like a not so important thing then, happened while I was celebrating leaving work, by digging a deep hole in the yard, and planting a lovely rose in it. At first I didn't hurt to extreme, but within a day or two, knew I was in trouble, and had to see an orthopedic doctor who began a change in life for me, from unusual dexterity, to leaning on crutches, which continued a month or two, then left me with a limp that increased until I got this unruly knee checked again, and now I'm looking at surgery on it. My son I rushed to the hospital last year, will soon be helping take care of me while I go through it.
My town hosted the Democratic Convention, and since I couldn't work much with this knee getting worse, I helped out at the election headquarters, for weeks. I will never forget seeing the marked change in our phone surveys; those calls that irritate so many. I would gladly put up with some unwanted phone calls, to get someone in the White House who would care about my needs. I realized voters were turning toward the man who now will lead our country, and for me the election was over.
My knee still hurt, sometimes a lot, but it's amazing what adrenaline can do, even to an aged knee. If it needed repairs, I would deal with it after the presidential election. It might be in bad condition, and it's turned out that it is, but our country was in worse.
When our stock market crumbled this time around, I was almost making history, from being born in the long ago Great Depression, and perhaps spending my last years in the one we're in now, and the irony of this scares me. But it's going to take more than what I've seen of it, to completely get to me.
To launch this new year, I will seriously list more new resolutions, to work on improving me. My newest one is to learn a foreign language. The one that's more needed here, as our population shifts, is Spanish. I'm not good yet at speaking it, but almost every day I learn more words, and while I'm not mobile after this knee surgery, I can learn even more, and with some unexpected but appreciated serendipity, may meet somebody somewhere who can teach me how to speak it. The nice thing about living through a tough depression, is that you learn how to manage without things, and are so much stronger because of having done it.
Today our pastor shared an overall plan of growth for our church in this coming year. He used a quote of scripture that our race in life should be directed toward Jesus Christ, our Lord, and talked about how we were running superbly; (this from chapter 5 of Galatians) It asks "Who cut in on you?" stating further that the detour we've made didn't come from the One who called us into the race in the first place.; that our life long journey should always lead us to He who died for us.
Mere knee surgeries, or widespread depressions in our country, are nothing our Lord cannot handle, but only part of His bigger plan for us. My task is to make sure my new year's resolutions are in line with His. You may want to keep this in mind while you're making yours, for he really does hold this entire old world in His loving hands.
