The only update on the medical front is a regular visit to our family doctor who has been a true Angel of Mercy along these adventures. She is ever so mindful of her role in managing my overall health, with a keen sense of what is hers to care for and what is best left to the specialists. More than once, she has detected a bump in the road, thankfully, to keep everything moving forward. We chuckled about her phoning my oncologist from the beach and another time she called me with blood work results from the airport! Having experienced hip/lower back pain for a few weeks, she did a quick examination to determine, it's likely lower back, reminding me I have degenerative disc disease. The greater question of course is whether it gets to the point of doing something about it. Hmmm, not sure what would be done, depending on where it falls on the priority list of my overall medical condition. Apparently I've outlived their predictions more than once.
For me the important thing to keep in mind is taking responsibility for my physical health by doing whatever I can to keep active, rest when needed - and I mean it. For me, and hopefully you, we can find even one physical activity we enjoy enough to look forward to doing it. My go-to is the pool and the more I go, the better I feel. The next step will be a further review by a physiotherapist to update the exercises I can do to minimize pain and maximize flexibility. I've probably said this before but the magic in pool therapy for me is the improvement in my mental well being. It's long been my view, I can deal with most things in my life if I can just maintain a healthy state of being.
Something that's been on my mind for a long time is how my right brain is languishing in the desert of inactivity. Regardless of why, I can blame it on just about anything but again, it's up to me to decide to consciously take steps to improve what I can in my life. The step I took was to try signing up for a calligraphy course which I missed out on and is not being offered again. The follow up was to sign up for a course called 'From Doodling to Tangling'. Pardon? It's offered through the Senior's Centre so Mike and I are now proud members of this elite organization, joining the ranks of thousands of others, just like us, aging whether we like it or not!
You might enjoy hearing how I decided to take this course. Since calligraphy wasn't available, I was informed the same instructor was teaching the Doodling course. Oh, well that's good enough for me so right there on the spot I signed up, paid my money and patiently waited for day one. I asked a friend if she'd consider joining me but once she googled it to learn a little more, she graciously declined. I quite frankly never thought about doing any research on it. Well first class was Wednesday and I must admit, it's much more intriguing than I anticipated. The best way to describe is to create a mental image of the adult colouring books which are all the rage right now. It's sort of like learning to draw those designs which is what leads to the tangling with their own names of shapes. It's all pattern based. The intro to the class was on the board as "Our creativity helps us to clear our minds and create more balance in our lives." Hey, that's right up my alley. We'll see how this goes over the next six weeks. Our week one effort turned out quite well. Something else to look forward to besides the pool.
By now you likely know one of my top priorities is to further develop my faith and with that comes my relationship with Jesus. Of late, I've read in more than one place, our purpose in life is to glorify God through all our actions and to be thankful for everything. Everything? Yup, everything. Several years ago, oh my, closing in on 20 years ago, I made a conscious decision to pursue my own Catholic faith after having explored many new age views and beliefs. The further out I went in my exploring, the more it all seemed to lead me back to the best seller of all time. Of course that being the Bible. Once that decision was made, I realized I need look no further than my own backyard.
Attending weekly Mass was a respite from the crazy goings on in the world and helped to get me grounded and focus on what's really important in life. Sort of like filling my tank of hope to get ready for yet another week of mayhem. It didn't take long to realize weekly Mass while helpful, wasn't enough to help me make sense of this world we live in. From there, I started taking adult education courses at the church to help me understand not so much what we believe as Christians, but why we believe. From there, step by step I'd try to incorporate some of my learnings more and more into my daily life. At first it felt like I was trying to speak a foreign language, tripping over my thoughts and not getting the words out right. Slowly, over a long time, I became more comfortable with incorporating faith filled words into my vocabulary. I now listen to a Christian radio station in the car 94.7 FM out of Syracuse which provides a multitude of programs and music which I treasure and often sit in the car in the driveway to listen to the end of a program. My neighbours must wonder what I'm doing out there staring into space as I absorb the message.
A long time friend introduced me to a TV evangelist Joel Osteen whose program I watched for several years until we moved, got different programming and I lost track of poor Joel. Despite the naysayers about his means of delivering God's word, I found it a wonderful way to look at life with faith, hope and courage. I've learned through all these means, God truly is with me everywhere I go, and learned I'm never truly alone.
A few notes I've made to self, clearly to share, include some of the following:
- How is the life I've received in Jesus reflect in the way I relate to others?
- How has my life been changed by the love of God?
- Reflect the love of God and generously care for others.
- One of the more difficult things in our spiritual life is to discern what God wants us to do. In those times we must keep asking until we understand.
- Faith deepens as you become weaker. When we are weakest, we are closest to God.
- So much means so little anymore (as it relates to a life threatening illness)
- Move from being in the world to being of the world. This one I'm still working on for better understanding. (Part of the answer I think is in the point above).
- Nothing you have is because of luck or chance. It was all God's grace and favour. (good lesson in humility)
- How do I deal with the restlessness about what to do with the time I have left? These are the times to be still and wait for the gentle whisper of God's plan for my life.
Did you know if we forgive, we must forget? This was a bit of a surprise to me when I first heard it. What about the saying "I forgive you but I'll never be able to forget". If we can't forget, we're still keeping score and not truly forgiving at all. That was a tough one to wrap my head around. Once I did though, it provided another layer of freedom.
Another nugget I came across recently was 'Constant reminders of past sins are not from God. He forgets. It's the work of the enemy.'
I'll finish with one I received from a friend and cherish so much I wrote it into the back of my Bible:
"Christ speaks to the faithful. Blessed are the ears that catch the pulses of the Divine whisper'.
Take care and God Bless,
Hugs,
Liz
dobbsjones@ gmail.com
'Prayers wrapped in faith and sent with love are the greatest gifts we can receive.'
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