Down But Never Out

Psalm 145:14 "the Lord sustains all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down."

I can hear her correction, her words...how should I say it?  ...to "protect me." 

"Sit up straight."  (slouching is bad for the posture). 

"Pick your feet up!" (shuffling or dragging one's feet slows you down and may cause a fall).

And her most famous one..."You need a little lipstick!" ( Maybe that's why I always have one in my pocket to this day).

Moms always have good intentions, even if their constant repeating gets annoying. (I hope my son realizes that soon). 

So today, and also a few weeks back...I shuffled and you guessed it, I tumbled. 

I fell hard both times. The first time, walking from the hospital to the medical office, ironically for an urgent care appointment for myself! 

A bridge straddled a drainage area and garden and it had a narrow metal grate running across. I caught my flip-flop and down I went, hard on my knees and hands on the concrete. I scraped and bruised both knees, one more that the other, the pain lasting the rest of the summer. 

Urgent care now became about two things. Nothing was broken, except my pride. I will gladly admit though, I can be a klutz. 

Today, at school, in front of the Library, yep, it happened again. Down I went as my foot abruptly stopped on a raised tile area of students names and memories. 

"Coleene, and here is where I fell, September, 2017." 

Between classes, I think no one saw me. I less than graciously, lifted myself up, made sure nothing was broken and hobbled back to my classroom, bleeding and disheveled, eventually making my way to Nurse Lila. She directed me to clean my wound, bandage myself up and maybe some paperwork. 

Now I have to document my blunders!  Ugh! 

Ungraceful at times, we fall. Maybe, it is the sin in our lives that trips us up. It is always when we take our eyes off the One who balances us and leads the way. It hurts, stings, bleeds and bruises up. Our achey hearts and spirit make us difficult--we cannot respond to others who are hurting because we are too focused on our own wounds. 

Maybe sometimes we need to just stay on the ground a bit longer, prostrate and needy, allowing  God to pick us up and sustain us.

 Can you picture that? His arms under yours, gentle and guiding as He wipes our brow and hands us a glass of living water, brushes away the gravel stuck to our wounds and then carries us the distance until we can stand strong once again.

His grace becomes my grace. My grace, given, can help steady another and point to the One who is the Lifter of our heads, the Binder of our wounds, our Healer and Strength-giver. 

Mom, thank you for your wisdom in my outward appearance and posture. Lord, thank You for grace that sometimes allows the fall, but is ready and anxious to pick me up and straighten me out.  Each and every time my own self begins to shuffle, slump and trip over obstacles of this world and the adversary's accusations get under my feet, I know a simple prayer of asking for Your wisdom, Your forgiveness and Your grace will keep me walking with discernment and foresight in all that lies ahead of me.  Lastly, I pray my lips will be ready to proclaim Your goodness to me, in the right shade and shine! Amen. 

    Get Back Up ~ Toby Mac 

                                                         You Lift Me Up ~ The Afters 

What a Pain!

Psalm 34:19-20   Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. 

Last Saturday I slammed my little toe into the corner of my big, bulky dresser. 

Big and bulky now describes the top half of my foot.  

Don't think you can tell much from the picture
but the little toe is purple
and across the top, swollen 

I donned tennis shoes to walk Disneyland the next day. Very sore, my pace slowed down.  My friend mustered up amazing patience as we navigated the park. 

I don't know if I broke it or not. After googling "broken toe," there wasn't much advice I didn't already consider; buddy tape, elevate, ice.  

Six days later, it is still swollen, very sore and annoying. 

Things could be worse. 

While walking to my first period class on Thursday, a student sat on the sidewalk between the grass and the lunch area, his friend standing above him, both with puzzled looks on their faces. As I approached them, the boy on the ground called out to me. 

"Can you help me?"

Sensing something anyway, my steps already turned in that direction.   He was sitting, well, sort of, with his legs under him and one leg looked somewhat misplaced...crooked. 

"I fell, he said. We were throwing the tennis ball and I slipped on the grass and now my leg won't work."

He did not seem panicked, in any excrutiating pain, maybe a tad embarrased or concerned.  

Telling his friend to stay with him, most students were now in their classrooms, the tardy bell announcing the begining of classes for the day. I left and walked up to the Administration building, getting the V. P's secretary to get help for this young man. She quickly called campus security. 

Walking back to encourage the young student that help was on the way, I stayed until others began assisting him. Soon, a fire truck and paramedic pulled up in front of the school and the injured kid left in an ambulance for the nearest hospital. ( A REAL injury, I surmised). 

Later I would find out that he had snapped his femur completely through and cracked another bone!

I couldn't believe it; so calm and the accident...so nondescript!  Not one kid walking around him noticed, or stopped, only his one friend who he sported with.  

While sitting on the couch tonight, feeling my toe and its surrounding buddies throbbing and distracting me, I thought of the boy and his smashed up leg. Me? Whining, limping, complaining all week about my dumb little toe while many live daily in constant chronic pain. 

Perspective. I need a good dose of this medicine. 

Sometimes, the quiet ones, the ones everyone walks around, the ones who slip easily and stay down are the ones we need to pay attention to, have more compassion for.  I see it everyday in the kids I work with. Some sort of pain, whether obvious or not, exists in all of us.  Pain that is unplanned, unintentional, life changing, sobering, throbbing... Pain demands attention. 

“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”  C.S. Lewis 

I know throbbing pain and it's not my toe.  God binded my wounds, tenderly cared for me and paid literally, divine attention to both my loud complaints and my quiet, personal aches. His perscription for me provided a promise to deliver me, send his Comforter and give me strong legs to stand on. In that, I am called to see other's pain, empathize and encourage.  

Maybe someday, an app, touched on one of our devices will instantly "self-x-ray" our boo-boos and "Suri" in her electronic voice will suggest our ailment and our remedy. I know that my God already does that. With a call in to Him in prayer, He sees my pain, my injury, and writes out the perscription of love. In my time and in His time, healing begins. 

Heavenly Father, Why do I sometimes run into things and hurt myself? Oh, yeah, I am human. Why do I worry and complain when things become a bother, annoy, make things difficult. Really? That human thing again?  Please help me Lord to have better perspective. I need Your perspective to see the obstacles in front of me and the hearts of others. When someone calls for help, allow me to be sensitive and wise. You are the Great Physician. Thank you Lord for your Healing Hands on my heart throbs and my toe throbs. Amen. 

Grace Given, Grace Required

Romans 6:14 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!

Two observations in the commute of life had me pondering this week.

Bicyclists, 15 or more, traveling in lanes of traffic as if they were of the “serious sort” of sport enthusiast pedaled a few cars in front of me, waiting in the left hand turning lane.  No spandex graced their bodies, no aerodynamic helmets fit their heads, no gleaming reflection from sculpted calf muscles pushed their bikes forward.  Oh, and their bikes?  Just your everyday garage sale-find 10 speeds. Young, diverse, street-wise appearance, —“West Side Story” on wheels. They held, staggered in the lane, ready and waiting for the light to signal green and pump up the hill. When that happened after patiently waiting, they exploded around the corner, at ease with the flow of cars, jockeying for position, in obedience and care of the rules of the road. (I wondered if they were from the reform school over the same hill and rewarded this pleasurable outing).

                                                                 ~

Every morning she glides by in her shiny Mercedes Benz, oblivious of the lane where others wait their turn, or disregarding THAT line, where one has to move with the flow. She waits for a small opening then cuts in at the front of the line, or even worse, continues straight to the signal and makes an illegal left hand turn from the right lane (meant to go straight) in front of the cars legally turning left into the school parking lot. Her way is unsafe, a violation of the rules, and renders us wide-eyed and appalled at her response to our attempt of informing her of this violation. (and we did that twice). 

“Well, I didn’t cause you and accident, so why do you care?”

One group enjoying the privledges of freedom and watching for the signals, staying in the correct lanes; another not wanting to give up what she thinks she deserves, parking her car facing outward for a quick getaway.

For right now, both of these scenarios enjoy the blessing of grace.  But sooner or later that Mercedes might get a little to close for comfort.  I really hope know one gets hurt, but her attitude makes me keep my distance.

Lord, I am grateful and thankful for your grace and I ask that you remind me always to remain humble in any blessing given to me. Freedom in grace does not mean freedom to disobey. We know you are a God that forgives but You are also a God who tells us that to whom much is given, much is required. Remind us when we stray out of Your lane and encourage us to be graceful and thoughtful to others.  Amen