While It Is Still Called Today
About a month ago, my brother was in an auto accident. When I asked about subsequent trouble with his back, he was philosophical. What happened, he said, was that my back tightened in order to protect my spinal cord. Now, anytime I'm under stress or try to lift anything, even something small, the same response kicks in. I have to retrain myself.
Retrain himself he did. A lifelong independent person and freethinker who tends to shun accolades or confirmation from the crowd, on social media or otherwise, he nevertheless posted a picture on Facebook of his graduation from physical therapy. He could now return to work.
Perhaps it was in the spirit of celebrating the celebratory, the completion of his first week back on the job with the shift that ended about 11, that he decided to defy middle-age and go to hear his uncle's band. When he left, it was raining heavily. The car was new to him. It collided with a concrete barrier. He totaled the car and broke a couple ribs, but human vulnerability is such that, even though his head was spared in the collision, his brain is still recovering from sudden shift.
Now he has a more protracted, wrenching fight ahead of him to regain and retrain functions that most of us, including this writer with a physical disability, take for granted. From the diverse community that rallied around him immediately after his accident, I have a new appreciation for the breadth of his reach and the openness of his character. A text I was recently too busy or self-conscious to send him asking about the details of his daily grind will go unsent and unanswered, for a while. That energy and more has been transferred to the push of prayer, but a sense of crisis will dissipate because C.S. Lewis admits in The Screwtape Letters that the closest humans can get to consistency is undulation.
As lesser conflicts and demands take on the pretense of real crises in our lives, we inevitably think of him a little less, but his fight goes on. The Holy Spirit is at work even when humans grow weary or distracted, and I'm grateful for that. But I also seek His work of renewed perseverance and gratitude in me. Next time, I send the text. Next time, I celebrate my brother's, or my friend's, smallest victories, regardless of potential indifference, or even embarrassment or annoyance on the receiving end, because we are not guaranteed that we will be able to do so tomorrow. Encourage one another daily, says Hebrews 3:13, while it is still called today. This is that author's prescription against the hardening of our hearts in sin. If my heart is heavier this week, it is also more supple with vigilance against the sin of presuming what I will be able to do tomorrow.
Retrain himself he did. A lifelong independent person and freethinker who tends to shun accolades or confirmation from the crowd, on social media or otherwise, he nevertheless posted a picture on Facebook of his graduation from physical therapy. He could now return to work.
Perhaps it was in the spirit of celebrating the celebratory, the completion of his first week back on the job with the shift that ended about 11, that he decided to defy middle-age and go to hear his uncle's band. When he left, it was raining heavily. The car was new to him. It collided with a concrete barrier. He totaled the car and broke a couple ribs, but human vulnerability is such that, even though his head was spared in the collision, his brain is still recovering from sudden shift.
Now he has a more protracted, wrenching fight ahead of him to regain and retrain functions that most of us, including this writer with a physical disability, take for granted. From the diverse community that rallied around him immediately after his accident, I have a new appreciation for the breadth of his reach and the openness of his character. A text I was recently too busy or self-conscious to send him asking about the details of his daily grind will go unsent and unanswered, for a while. That energy and more has been transferred to the push of prayer, but a sense of crisis will dissipate because C.S. Lewis admits in The Screwtape Letters that the closest humans can get to consistency is undulation.
As lesser conflicts and demands take on the pretense of real crises in our lives, we inevitably think of him a little less, but his fight goes on. The Holy Spirit is at work even when humans grow weary or distracted, and I'm grateful for that. But I also seek His work of renewed perseverance and gratitude in me. Next time, I send the text. Next time, I celebrate my brother's, or my friend's, smallest victories, regardless of potential indifference, or even embarrassment or annoyance on the receiving end, because we are not guaranteed that we will be able to do so tomorrow. Encourage one another daily, says Hebrews 3:13, while it is still called today. This is that author's prescription against the hardening of our hearts in sin. If my heart is heavier this week, it is also more supple with vigilance against the sin of presuming what I will be able to do tomorrow.
Very thought provoking. Very well written too btw. Still praying for your brother. Excellent thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThis is a ten on a scale of one to five! I can't say more.
ReplyDeleteSimply beautiful! Still keeping Brent in my prayers as well as the rest of you.
ReplyDeleteEh, there's "always" tomorrow..
ReplyDelete