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The way it should be

Part of the Process

Earlier this week I had a minor surgical procedure on my shoulder and things are going better than expected, my doctor is even surprised, Thank You Jesus. Now it is just time for the healing to take place.

With any healing it is a process, I have more mobility and less pain every day. I have bruises that have started to appear and are now going through the various stages of color dark purple to green to yellow. I have a rash from the bandage tape that is fading. The worst part is the stitches. I have two of them and with each day they are becoming more and more of a nuisance. As I have more use of that arm they tend to pull, and itch! My goodness they itch, I know that is a good indication of the healing and I will resist the urge to pull them out myself and wait until Monday and let the doctor do it.

Physical healing is a process but so is emotional. We all experience the pain, irritation and the different phases of healing. Just like with the stitches we would love to pull out and skip that part, but we are only truly healed and not scarred if we allow the full process to take place.

Objects May Be Closer Then They Appear

A mirror is used to show us where we have been or what we look like now.

Remove the reflective surface from the back of a mirror and it becomes a lens that can help us get a clear image of where we are going.

2008 In Review

2008 In Review

On January 1st, 2008 this is what I wrote in my journal:
“A new year; a year of change, a year of not wasting opportunity, a year for stronger relationships, a year of better discipline and a year with a deeper time with the Lord.”

Here are some key moments recorded via the blog:

January – new job – I really struggled to be respected in my last job and searched not only for a new job but my heart for the right attitude where I was. Then during the break between Christmas and New Years I came upon a listing on Monstor.com and in just 3 weeks I started on a new endeavor. And here it has been nearly 12 months and even with lots of changes in this uncertain world I am enjoying what I do.

February – Aunt Agnes – When you are 95 and have lived life to the fullest I guess we shouldn’t complain that she is at rest. The times I think about, talk about or remember my Aunt aren’t very far apart; she was such a highlight to our lives.

May – Need a Knee Replacement – this was the diagnosis that I got and what did I do with that? I joined the Y and started exercising to strengthen the other muscles and tendons around the damaged one to make my knee more stable. This has turned into one of the best things for my health. At the time I started I could hardly make 10 minutes on the treadmill without too much pain, today I rip off 60 minutes at 8% incline 2 or three nights a week and I am planning on climbing Mt St Helens this summer. It also has helped me to lose 20+ pounds, now who could complain about that?

June – Wings – What can you say, one of the best sports team ever won AGAIN.

July – Orange County Fair – Kyle and I spent a pleasant weekend in Orange County, taking advantage of one of my business trips. That is one thing that I really love about my husband is that he likes to just get away for a day or two to be together.

August – visitors – This summer I had the opportunity to have both my sisters come out for a visit. I enjoy visiting with my sisters and I know it is a blessing to my mom.

October – vacation – What an amazing experience it is to visit Washington DC. You can complain about our country but until you have had to opportunity to visit other nations you just don’t understand how truly blessed we are and how blessed this nation is.

December – discipline – I set goals and objective for myself and one of the key ones is daily reading of the bible. This year I was able to read through the Bible four times by reading 20 pages a day. Every time I do this I learn a little more about our Heavenly Father and about myself.

Irritating Challenge

Christmas day I was irritated with my mom for the puzzle she picked to do. One of the few Christmas traditions our family has is to do a jigsaw puzzle on Christmas Day. This year, just like last year she had saved a really difficult puzzle for the two of us to work on together. I took one look at it and knew it would be up to me to do that puzzle because she wouldn’t be able to and it really wasn’t one I wanted to work on. I let her work on it and I puttered around doing just about anything else except work on that puzzle.

The next day when I got up I almost just put the puzzle away because I had a rotten attitude but instead I sat down and started working on it and it turned out that I got totally engrossed in it and almost finished it that evening. I had to make myself stop so that there would be some left for my mother to do when she came back over on New Year’s Day.

I totally got involved in the challenge of getting it figured out and completed. A puzzle I didn’t even want to start and was upset about having to work on turned out to be fun and I felt good about getting it done.

How often do we look at challenges in our lives as I did that puzzle, something that we just don’t want to do, something that we dread and would rather just put away and not do it. Any just like that puzzle the sense of accomplishment that comes for doing something we just don’t feel we can.