The pool party we had 5-weeks ago was a blast. The food was great, the friendship was evident, and the games were exciting.
I do a trick off the diving board where I push a child's round float out to the middle of the diving area, take a running start, push off the diving board, fly up into the air, prayer the prayer of Moses that the tube will stretch, and dive right through the hole in the inner tube.
When I pushed off the diving board at the party I could feel something pull in my left calf. It pulled hard and swimming was over for me. In fact, I barely made it to the car and stayed on the couch for the next two days.
I did not visit the doctor until today (8-days later). For those 8-days I have limped, cried out in pain when I walked on it wrong, and pretty much have felt like an old man.
I made the decision to go to the doctor because a couple of days ago I noticed that my calf was bruised, purplish/yellowish from the top of my calf to my ankle. That made me a bit nervous!
This morning the doctor took one look at it, pressed it for a second or two and stated "Yep, it is bruising well".
What? There is a right way to bruise? That is all you have? The pain had been excruciating. The bruised coloring in such a large section as worrisome and all she had was that it is bruising well?
I had no idea there was such a thing as bruising correctly. The calf muscle was damaged with no immediate coloring but with intense pain. The bruising surfacing on the skin indicated that appropriate healing was taking place deep inside.
I am still limping but with a confidence that I am better off today then I was almost 5-weeks ago.
And I thought, that is a lot like the bruising of life. Pain happens deep in our emotional and spiritual tissue but there is a right way to bruise. There is a right color to turn when the healing begins to take place. The pain is meant to move to the 'surface' of life.
The pain we experience can surface as anger, depression, aggression, or a thousand other wrong expressions of pain; and all of them prove damage was done somewhere at a much deeper lever.
The wound in my calf had nothing to do with my ankle yet from the looks of my bruising and the swelling that is still in my leg you would think otherwise.
When pain hits us in the deep parts of our life and makes us limp we often get used to the limp. When the bruise appears and the wound becomes apparent again it brings concern. But, there is a right way to bruise.
Allow God to touch you at the place of your pain. Turn your anger into a conversation with Him and you'll find your wound surfacing to the top. Take your depression and ask God to speak to you about it; you will find His answer better then any medication.
There is a right way to bruise; a way that brings healing.
There is hope.
There is always hope when we give our pain to our Father.
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