It has been a week since our epic hiking adventure, and I am still hobbling around with sore knees. There is no swelling, and I don’t have too much pain unless I overdo things or use stairs. I can walk from one end of the apartment to the other; I can stand and sit and carry Torre, but to actually get out and run errands or go to the park slows me down to turtle pace. I think my muscles are still in disbelief at what we did and are worried they’ll give me ideas if they just work without complaining!
I was talking to God about my sore knees and asked if there was any lesson or something I should get out of this, and it turns out there is. So here you have the spiritual lessons I am learning from this physical pain:
- Don’t do all your training indoors
Here’s the thing – I’m in reasonably good shape, and it was a huge blow to my pride to be so crippled by physical activity I thought I could do. I even did a workout video the night before we left to go camping! I can climb the stairs to our apartment on the 11th floor, even carrying Torre; I can do pull-ups and push-ups and tricep dips and squats and mountain climbers, and I will hate them and sweat buckets then feel great after. But that kind of training doesn’t translate so well to the complexity of hiking through back country terrain. My knees basically died because all the little muscles that stabilize them became exhausted because they’re used to my feet landing on firm, level ground.In faith, it is just as risky to do all your spiritual training in safe, stable, controlled environments. Continue reading “Spiritualizing My Sore Knees”