Once again, God’s tapping reminded me to be grateful!

Actually a small child who stepped in front of my bicycle did the tapping.  Well no, in all reality, the sidewalk did the tapping as my knee came in contact with it.

I was sitting on my bike, tip-toeing down the sidewalk just about to cross the street after finishing a bike ride at the beach.  I was behind a mom and two small children – ten seconds away from the car – taking “walking” for granted,

When I felt God’s Tapping…

As I attempted to pass the family, a little one turned into my path.  To avoid hitting her I introduced my front wheel to a fence and down I went. Nothing was hurting, then I attempted to stand. It was as if the lower leg and and upper leg weren’t connected. At this point, I looked down expecting to see blood and exposed bones. But no, there was just my leg without even a scratch. Confused, I immediately sat down and looked for my husband to help and take the bike. Attempting to get upright, I thought, “shake it off lady, you probably just hit a nerve in your knee.”

Well I was wrong…

In the car I could bend the leg towards me, move my ankle and had no pain, but exiting the car was another matter.  Stepping on it with full body weight was impossible. We returned to the car and headed to Urgent Care.  Long story short, there were x-rays, a brace and lucky for me I still had crutches from the previous “Frisbee” incident.  In short, an orthopedic doc and MRI was on Monday which led to a meeting on Wednesday. The doc explained it was a complete tear of the ACL.  He said if you’re not in extreme sports you don’t really need an ACL… really?  He suggested just PT, because clearly walking isn’t an extreme sport for me, at least not yet!

Friends suggested that I rethink the PT-only path. We’re planning on retiring in the mountains (hiking) and my line of work involves (climbing up and down ladders).  One day I’d also like to experience lifting a grandchild without my knee buckling under its weight. (A subliminal hint to my children.)  A second opinion confirmed that surgery would be best.

Sunday will be four weeks since the bike incident and finally, surgery is on Monday.  Believe me, sitting quietly for four weeks is not easy for a person with OCD (organize constantly disorder). I’m actually pretty proud that I haven’t killed anyone yet.   But then again, the only person in the condo is my husband, who does everything,

so I best not kill him…

While I sat doing nothing for weeks on end, I have noticed how much muscle tone I’ve lost in my leg, even with doing PT to strengthen it before surgery.  Staring at the dwindling leg, I once again try to fathom what God’s tapping was trying to tell me.   

It took nearly four weeks, but I think I finally got it!  The saying “if you don’t use it, you lose it” applies to more than a leg waiting for surgery.  If we don’t practice being kind or humble or grateful we forget how to perform those actions.  We have to keep “exercising” those action muscles to make them become a habit. 

It shouldn’t take a tap from God in the form of a physical injury to remind us to keep exercising those muscles. But then again, maybe God’s taps are meant to show us He’s never quite done with us.   

Crap, I must be a very slow learner because I’ve been tapped quite a bit the last few years!!

Sitting here contemplating, I make the promise to not take walking down stairs for granted.  Promises are made to reach out, be kinder, more humble and less selfish. Plus recognize that this ACL is such a small struggle compared to a bazillion other people. 

Personal note to God: Next time I’d like my tap to be just a text, it’d be a lot less painful. 

Grateful for you, God’s tap and more inactive time to reflect… again!

Xoxo

Sheree