Given this fact, you can imagine how disappointing
it is that I cannot currently walk as I normally would. It started several months ago when I began experiencing pain in my heal. I self diagnosed it as plantar fasciitis, because when I typed in the symptoms into a search engine that is what came out.. I also explained what it
felt like to several friends and told them what I thought it was. They nodded their head in agreement. Eventually, I explained what I was feeling to
a doctor and they confirmed my diagnoses.
The internet and my friends have given me ideas on how to care
for my injury. I was instructed to massage
my foot with a tennis ball. If that did
not do the trick someone suggested freezing a water bottle and rolling my foot
on this as a way to apply cold to the areas.
There were also suggestions regarding stretching, wearing a night brace, and for
inserts for my shoes. Wanting to get back to my normal rhythm of walking, I put all these into practice.
When I saw the doctor I explained how I was treating this inflammation and she simply said, “You are doing the right stuff. Keep it up.” When I asked how long it would take to heal, the doctor told me months. This is not what I wanted to hear so I have kept seeking input in order to find the magic cure.
When I saw the doctor I explained how I was treating this inflammation and she simply said, “You are doing the right stuff. Keep it up.” When I asked how long it would take to heal, the doctor told me months. This is not what I wanted to hear so I have kept seeking input in order to find the magic cure.
Last night I was at a party and discovered one of the guests works
for an orthopedic firm. Now, she was not a doctor, but she works very closely
with one so I asked her if she knew of any secret to speed up the
healing. The answer was no.
She actually knew quite a bit about what I was experiencing,
how it is treated and how long it generally takes to heal. Simply put, she knew enough to be very certain,
beyond what I was already doing; you simply cannot speed up the healing process. As hard as it is to accept, the fact of the matter is there is no
secret. It simply takes time.
This left me with only one option, to wait. I don’t like waiting. I want to see results now, but the reality is
for broken things to heal it takes time.
For the kind of transformation I desire to take place in the tissue of my foot I will have to wait.
Today, I was reminded how much waiting is present in Scripture. Abraham waited for a son. Moses
tended sheep for 40 years while he waited. The people of Israel waited to be delivered from bondage in Egypt. They waited
again in the dessert. The palmist cried out on numerous occasions, “How long oh
Lord!” The people of God waited for a Messiah.
Jesus went into the dessert for 40 days.
The disciples waited for the resurrection and for the day of Pentecost. It seems waiting is necessary for
transformation whether it be physical or spiritual, and most of us do not like to wait.
Our culture, technology and our impatience
have all worked together to produce a society where we do as little waiting as
absolutely necessary. After all, waiting
feels like a waste of time. It feels like we are doing nothing. When we are waiting it feels like
we are not making any progress and it grates us the wrong way. We stubbornly respond by looking for ways to
get around it, at least I do.
Waiting, however, is not standing still. While I rest my foot and wait to walk it is
actually healing, even if I cannot sense it in a moment, a day or even a week of days.
If we were to carefully go back through the stories in Scripture where people were forced to wait, I think we would discover there was
actually much going on. It was in the waiting they were discovering the truth
about themselves, the reality that God can be trusted, and they were being
prepared for what was to come. All very important ares of growth, which simple cannot be rushed.
We learn from their seasons of waiting something of the
reality of its necessity for healing and growth. We also learn from their moments of weakness and refusal to wait what a mess it can make. I don’t know
about you, but I would rather opt for healing and growth than a big mess any day.
Where are you waiting in your life? How are you responding to being in this
place? What are you discovering about
yourself, and your ability to trust God?
What are you being prepared for? These
are far different kinds of questions to ask than "How long will the wait be?" or "When will I be
able to move on?"
When we are invited into a season of waiting we must decide if the space between now and when the waiting is over will be filled with
frustration born from our unwillingness to enter the waiting, or will we receive it as an opportunity to trust
that something very significant is taking place, even if we cannot perceive it
in the moment.
Yet the Lord longs to
be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the
Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! – Isaiah 30:18
Wait
for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. – Psalm 27:14
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