Friday, January 25, 2008

Under the Knife II

If you read yesterday, you know that I had minor surgery to repair an umbilical hernia. The procedure went well according to the doctor. Yesterday, once I got home, I was doing fairly well--in a little pain, but manageable.

This morning I got up and my pain level is up there higher than I anticipated.

Two things occurred to me about this.

First is a verse from Proverbs: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall (16:18). I totally thought this was not going to be a big deal (my pride) but I have found it is a little more painful than I thought it would be (my fall).

Second, I thought about how I traded something that was a minor irritant (but one that would continue and probably get worse over time) for something a little more painful (but would be temporary). I traded more pain for a short while to remove a little pain for a long while.

This is a metaphor for life and changes we need to make in our lives. Things we don't want to give up but we know we should can be viewed as minor irritants. You know what they are, you might say something like this about them, "It doesn't hurt anyone" or "I'm an adult and I can do whatever I want" or "This is just the way I was made and I can't change."

Whatever it might be, change of any type is difficult and painful in some way. However, just like my surgery, it is a choice to accept a little more pain in the short term for much greater gain in the long term. If it is a change to line up with God's Word, you can be assured it is ALWAYS worth it!

3 comments:

Rick said...

Great insight. Heal well my friend and I pray the pain subsides today.

Anonymous said...

So glad to hear you're dealing well with the "discomfort" you're feeling. My prayer is that your level of pain improves and that it all vanishes very soon.

Jim Lange said...

Thanks Renee - I appreciate it!