Can an Idaho spud grow in Kentucky bluegrass? Yes… with set backs.
Got real discouraged yesterday. Nerve damage in ankle, foot and toes is severe. Minimal movement. Physical therapy is painful … without any promises. Team meeting yesterday suggested I stay much longer than I had hoped. Usually I can handle that kind of challenge with a focus on God’s love and grace, sufficient for the day. Living a day at a time- not looking at the “whatifs.”
Having a 71 year relationship with the Creator has given me sufficient evidence that He works in everything that happens to me for my good, the good of others and for His glory. For that reason I can rejoice - no matter the circumstances. I know that in my head - now to get it into shoe leather. It is easy to lose focus in the rehab/nursing home. Old age seems so cruel. One man sits slumped over in a VEGETATIVE state. Diagnosis: Parkinson’s disease. Will that be me?
The world of “what-ifs” is a lousy place to park my mind. I refuse to linger here one more minute. Besides, it is time for physical therapy
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The author
The writer, a Life Coach, observes the tough times of life as challenges to gain great life lessons and personal growth through the loss of comfort, status, material, position, health, relationships, etc. "Consider it a sheer gift when tests and challenges come...You know that under pressure, your faith-life...shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." His and others' stories make up the blogsite.
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Ray Burwick
The author
About Me
- ray burwick
- Former college basketball coach; private practice counselor; author of "Self Esteem: You're Better than you Think" and "Good and Mad:Learning the Value of Anger and Becoming Free from the Clutches of Unhealthy Anger." Graduate of Northwest Nazarene University. Masters from Oregon State and doctorate from U. of Alabama. Five children. 16 grandchildren. Married to Theresa 12-23-2000. First wife of 36 years, Ann, died in 1999.
Tough Times can be Valuable
"There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary - we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!" Romans 5:3-5 The Message
Good And Mad
THANKS
A heartfelt thanks to Tim Milburn of NNU for his technical expertise in the development of this blog layout and for his special friendship.
2 comments:
Dear Ray,
Never mind about ending up in a vegetative state. Oddly enough, I have already accepted that condition, should it ever be visited upon me. That's fine. God is God, and we are forever. Forever vital and engaged and productive. That's what comes after Revelation. Real Life. Passing debilitation is okay with me, considering the fact that our world and our lives on it are part of the brightest future imaginable.
Remember to not only live outwards, but to meditate outwards, to reflect on the overpowering good of the LORD, who is the beginning and the end of all things and all time.
I love you, Ray, and I'm sorry your leg is wrecked, but the 4-wheeler episode is kind of funny. Imagining it as a YouTube video makes me laugh:
"Okay, here he comes... wait for it... wait for it... and.. Oh! No! Oh, that poor guy! That sucks! Let's watch it again. Hey, Bert! Come watch this 4-wheeler guy!"
Maybe these true stories will make you smile:
1. One winter, some friends and I holed up together for what we expected to be a snow-in. The next day, a white blanket and ice-sculpted trees met my eye, but so did clear roads. I was crestfallen, and went in to work delivering pizzas. At one house, I got out of my warm, cozy Chevy Blazer with the pizza, and happily trotted up the walk, not seeing that the red bricks I trod upon were shellacked with smooth ice. Feet straight out in front of me, I was horizontal and three feet in the air for a moment, then I was on the ground, writhing around and holding the back of my head. Lying there, I imagined looking at the scene from the sky - a humming red Chevy, all cozy and nice with its heat and music, a glowing little house, all cozy and nice with its fireplace and blankets and pajama'd family, and right in the middle of them, there's this little man, rolling around soundlessly on the cold ice - and I laughed.
2. I was riding my bike home from a friend's house after dark. I was going up the dead center of the street, forgetting about the constantly reappearing slit-shaped pothole that usually lay in the dead center of the street. Front tire goes in pothole, stops; man and bike rotate over front tire; man lands hard and fast on back and right side; bike pauses vertically, then falls to left. I knew I was scraped up, several points of road-burn starting to talk to me. I lay there in my pain, looked over at the bike, saw and heard the front wheel spinning, and began to laugh.
Sorry about your leg. Hope you'll spend some time imagining me lying on the ground, hurting and laughing, and will find some joy in it. Laugh at past me. I certainly do. :D
Dear Ray,
Never mind about ending up in a vegetative state. God is God, and we are forever. Forever vital and engaged and productive. That's what comes after Revelation. Real Life. Passing debilitation is okay with me, considering the fact that our world and our lives on it are part of the brightest future imaginable.
Remember to not only live outwards, but to meditate outwards, to reflect on the overpowering good of the LORD, who is the beginning and the end of all things and all time.
I love you, Ray, and I'm sorry your leg is wrecked, but the 4-wheeler episode is kind of funny. Imagining it as a YouTube video makes me laugh.
These true stories will make you smile:
1. One winter, some friends and I holed up together for what we expected to be a snow-in. The next day, a white blanket and ice-sculpted trees met my eye, but so did clear roads. I was crestfallen, and went in to work delivering pizzas. At one house, I got out of my warm, cozy Chevy Blazer with the pizza, and happily trotted up the walk, not seeing that the red bricks I trod upon were shellacked with smooth ice. Feet straight out in front of me, I was horizontal and three feet in the air for a moment, then I was on the ground, writhing around and holding the back of my head. Lying there, I imagined looking at the scene from the sky - a humming red Chevy, all cozy and nice with its heat and music, a glowing little house, all cozy and nice with its fireplace and blankets and pajama'd family, and right in the middle of them, there's this little man, rolling around soundlessly on the cold ice - and I laughed.
2. I was riding my bike home from a friend's house after dark. I was going up the dead center of the street, forgetting about the constantly reappearing slit-shaped pothole that usually lay in the dead center of the street. Front tire goes in pothole, stops; man and bike rotate over front tire; man lands hard and fast on back and right side; bike pauses vertically, then falls to left. I knew I was scraped up, several points of road-burn starting to talk to me. I lay there in my pain, looked over at the bike, saw and heard the front wheel spinning, and began to laugh.
Sorry about your leg. Hope you'll spend some time imagining me lying on the ground, hurting and laughing, and will find some joy in it. Laugh at past me. I certainly do. :D
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