Part 4 "Life Lesson" The Conclusion

The following morning, I awoke to a painful mystery.  When I went to get up, my right knee had a sharp, deep throbbing pain.  My first thought was the run had made me sorer than usual.  But when I slid out of bed and took a few steps, I knew that it was something much more than soreness.  Something was wrong with my knee.  I could barely walk because of the aching pain.  What had happened to my knee?  I couldn’t make sense out of what was going on.  It didn’t hurt any yesterday, during or after the run.  In fact it felt good all Thanksgiving Day! To make a long story short, I spent the next 10 months trying to let my knee heal itself, finally realizing that it wasn’t going to get better on its own.  So, I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I had a torn meniscus.  The surgery date was set, took place, and so far seems to have been a complete success.  The pain was all gone!  Oh, the knee was sensitive and swollen from the surgery, but the problem creating almost a year of unstable mobility and hurt had been removed.  It’s now Thanksgiving Day, 2011, and my knee is great.  Walking does not hurt, and I am getting back to my normal, I think, I hope.  In all this I learned a “life lesson.” I learned in those few months, I’d forgotten what it felt like to feel good.  And this makes me think….  I think about the person who can’t see as they once did, or the man whose hearing is almost gone, or the women, whose heart has weakened, leaving her little strength, or the one who’s wheel-chair-bound for life, due to a debilitating disease, or the child who once ran, played, and leaped for joy, who’s now elderly and bed-ridden, or the friend, family member, or spouse whose body has returned to ashes and dust.  Let me ask you a question, have you forgotten what it feels like to feel really good?  Is the brokenness in your body, your life, of the irreversible sort, that no surgery can heal, allowing you to once again experience what it feels like to feel good?  The answer for us all, is eventually yes, and this is the “earthly truth.” But a Christian’s journey doesn’t end in pain!  The Lord Almighty promises that there is coming a day, where believer’s will be gloriously healed, never again to forget what it feels like to feel good, because; ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” So, Dear God, thank you for the “life lesson” that came by way of a Thanksgiving Day jog with my daughter, and ultimately pointed me to your great spiritual promise of THE COMING MORNING OF JOY!