Day by Day

I groan as I head to physical therapy – again. Following surgery on my foot, I’m only two weeks into a two-month process and the exercises are already tedious. Forty times left, forty times right, up and down, around in circles – I won’t bore you with all the details of the exercises that I need to do day after day. (ever try picking up a towel with your toes? 40 times in a row!) Most of them feel insignificant and puny. No outward change is evident right away. I want a strong ankle ASAP. I’m not enjoying this day-by-day process.
Then it dawns on me – this is like my relationship with God. I want the result – having a strong connection to my creator and the change that can bring about in my life. But too often, I’m impatient and so busy looking for that result, I forget about the day-by-day choices that will get me to that place.

While doing physical therapy, I can’t see the muscles and tendons in my ankle gaining strength. Most days, when I finish, it doesn’t feel any stronger than it did an hour earlier. Actually, some days my ankle is tired and feels weaker than when I began the exercises. I have to go by the knowledge of how the body works and what my therapist tell me – these daily exercises will make my ankle strong again.

It is the same way with my connection to God – most times, I don’t see anything happening in myself. It is peaceful and calm to read, pray, journal or be still and I often feel refreshed when I take time to connect with my creator, but I’m not holy when I finish. I am still a messy human. There’s been no amazing change. No halo floating over me. I can get discouraged or I can choose to believe what God, pastors and others I trust say. Day by day, choice by choice – something is happening in me. I am getting stronger and becoming more the person I was created to be.

That promise helps me discipline myself to do exercises for my spirit – day after day. What exercises do you do for therapy for your spirit?

(Repost … about an experience a few years ago)