A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, I awoke to trouble.  I didn't know the extent of the trouble, but I knew it was trouble. The short of the story is that I had ruptured my C6-C7 disc the day before.  A MRI confirmed the rupture. For days, I could do nothing but just sit upright.  To recline was agony beyond description. The days were long, and the nights were even longer; drifting in and out with the rising and falling of exhaustion and pain meds.

The orthopedic told me my only course of treatment was cortisone shots.  My holistic gut knew better. "That will only dumb down the messages my body are sending and mask the problem," I told him. He wasn't too happy with me, but I wasn't happy with him. I left with pain, but without the shot.  I began doing research and found an article by a fascinating orthopedic who takes the body's natural mechanics to leverage healing.

A year later, I have holistically eliminated all body pain and all stiffness.... from my neck to my toes.

Today, I awoke reflecting on this past year in the light of going from this one extreme to the other with the use of  "instruments"....more specially in this case; natural instruments.

There are a host of instruments in my life I use every day for the benefit of personal stability and growth, but the key word is USE.  Like all instruments, they do absolutely nothing on their own.  They must be used.

God's Word does nothing for me collecting dust on the shelf.
Turmeric does nothing for me in the bottle.
Tennis shoes do nothing for me sitting in my closet.
And on and on the list goes.

I have found it doesn't take a lot of effort to benefit  greatly from the CONSISTENT use of the instruments God has so generously placed in my life.  However, as a life long student, as the seasons of life shift, so must my stewardship.

Go back a tad over a year ago.  My season had increased in responsibilities, and as such, I was finding my days full to the brim, to the point I no longer even had time to write here (as the blog's calendar journal demonstrates ).    It was a challenge to get all of life's demands worked in, but life itself taught me....through the reminder of pain.... it was high time to shift my stewardship, even as my season had shifted.

A new routine was developed that made allowance for both morning and evening yoga, essential for my body's healing.  It meant I started my bedtime routine earlier.... "giving up" a TV show or something else I thought I wanted/needed more......so that I could get up earlier and get done what I really needed.

The unharnessed ...better said undisciplined...mind is truly a detriment unrecognized by many until it is too late.

It's common, though not at all advantageous, that so many individuals continue veins of living even after a season of life has shifted.  It's called a rut.

It's somewhat like the summer pastime of "tubing".  So many put their tube into the water, throw their often times weary body into the tube, and turn off.... becoming a subject that just drifts wherever the water so chooses.

That might sound tempting, but those that have lived such an undisciplined life who a woke one day to find themselves painfully surrounded by the rapids would tell you the folly of such living.

Life, at its core, is about stewardship. It's about living life with intention. You were placed here upon the earth to steward your life.....your body, your time, your mind.   You were never meant to go through your days on "auto pilot" in a tube set adrift.

In truth, I am thankful for my injury a year ago. It brought awareness to an area that needed a shift in my stewardship.

May I humbly ask YOU, what area or areas of your life do you sense God putting His finger upon, calling you to shift, or up the ante, or even begin your stewardship in?

We all have an area or areas, yet I observe many choose to look the other way with the mainstream label of "acceptance", instead of embracing personal discipline towards real lasting change.

As Christians, we are not called to a life of acceptance.  We are called to a trans-formative life, going from carnal man to spiritual man, being wholly submitted to the Perfect One even as He perfects us.  That's not a passive act, but a highly deliberate act.

Such a tragedy; we all know people who slept, hitting the proverbial sleep button over and over,  until the rapids were surrounding them, tossing them hither and yon.

WAKE UP, while there is still time. Get off the lazy river, if you find yourself there. But take today and  honestly assess where you are on the trans-formative journey that you are meant to be living!

Be among those who courageously take on going from glory to glory....

With love and sincere interest for your own personal journey....

Journey well.... journey strong. ♡