I’ve been having a lot of pain and tenderness in my left foot over the past few months so today I finally went to consult a podiatrist.
Well, it reinforced for me how amazing our bodies are and how they are created to work in a certain way. If everything is working in synchronisation and harmony, great; if not, then watch out!
It turns out I am rather knock-kneed (my shins don’t slope at enough of an angle) and I have, ahem, fat legs. Of course the dear podiatrist put the latter slightly more tactfully, but that’s what he meant. The result of which is I don’t walk straight, favour one foot over the other, and turn my left foot slightly under, which in the long term has caused problems. None of which is helped by walking mostly on concrete streets, usually in a hurry.
So he’s going to make a plaster cast of my foot, and create an ortho-something insert for my shoes to retrain my foot. Plus I have some rather strange exercises to do (basically balancing on one foot at a time with my eyes closed – try it, it’s more difficult than it sounds!).
And this has made me reflect what a negative effect our modern lives have on our bodies. I’m overweight because I’m sedentary and eat too much when I’m depressed. I get neck pain because I can’t quite get the computer screen at the right angle. I work long hours at a stressful job that requires instant response, and have a lengthy commute to and from work each day (four-hour round trip). I feel too exhausted to exercise. I squash both my fun and my chores into hours that are far too short, and often feel that prayer has become just another chore. Lots of “shoulds”, lots of guilt.
I don’t have TIME to give enough back to life. I don’t have TIME to do many of the things I love. I don’t have TIME to… just live more slowly, creatively and reflectively. Just to be.
Antony writes – much better than this – about some of these things here today. And Wendy has been exploring similar issues relating to blogging.
Something’s got to give, and I’ll be thinking and talking more about that soon. Meantime, just off to stand on one foot with my eyes closed…
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Prayers for you my sister. For gentleness and peace to come your way…whatever those may look like for you….
I agree with what you say here and just want to call you stork. You know they don’t run around needlessly they stand there on one leg and watch and wait and then grab the food that comes by….
Oh – I hope you don’t think I am being nasty or facetious, I just thought it interesting that when I thought of you standing on one foot, I thought of a stork and when I thought of storks I realize how slow they are when seeking food until the food is there they wait and then when lightening quickness they grab it, which makes me think of those lilies of the field who neither toil nor sew.
In other words, I am thinking of how God created provision through nature and how unnatural our lives are. I am not attacking your lifestyle as most humans alive today suffer from it in some form or another.
Oh Me, sweetheart, I don’t think you’re being at all nasty! This really made me laugh. I can just see myself as a stork. Or a lily. Either would be great!
Thanks for your comments, both of you.