Update:
Good morning! My eye felt good
enough for me to spend some time writing this.
Friday morning’s eye injection went smoothly. The injection itself takes seconds; the
preparation for the injection took over an hour. I tried to go home and nap during the worst
part of the discomfort and that helped. About 5:30 p.m. my eye cleared up
enough (still a bit blurry) to read and watch some TV for about an hour; but it
remained sore and scratchy feeling all Friday night. Since I couldn’t read, use the computer, or
watch TV without pain, I swept and mopped the first floor where I live. It needed to be done and gave me something to
do for the night. I should be able to
use my eye on Saturday, at least to a limited extent. The most difficult thing to overcome is the
incessant desire to rub my eye. The eye
doctor doesn’t want me to touch my eye for fear of scratching my cornea. I keep catching myself with my arm raised and
the hand almost rubbing the eye before I remember not to do it.
Jon and Joshua came over to fill the wood rack about noon on Friday. They stayed to eat a pizza, so I had lunch
with them. Josh stayed inside afterward
to help me diagnose a computer issue; although we didn’t get it resolved. I use Chrome for my internet browser and
every time I close it, I lose the preset pages that are supposed to open when I
open the browser. It is more of a
nuisance than anything. Jon was out in
the garage looking for a small wooden box that we used to have. I wanted it for some of my prosthesis
exercises. He couldn’t find the old one so
he built me a new one. My current
prosthesis exercises with my box are not up to “Step Aerobics” level; more like
“Turtle Aerobics.” Slow. Steady. Concentrating
on form and technique. But I am getting there!
Saturday will be spent getting ready for Sunday morning worship, doing
some exercises and practice walking while spending about six hours in my
prosthesis. I’ve already done a first!!
I shaved standing up this morning for the first time since November
2013. I’ve got my sermon to finish and
my clothes to iron. If my eye feels good
enough to spend the additional time on the computer, I’ll look on line for a
bar/counter stool with arms. It is going
to be a long while before I am comfortable and strong enough to preach standing
up. The stool will give me some height and
a safe place to perch while I preach. I’ve spent a little while searching
already and have found many ugly stools, or those with a leather seat cushion
(I really hate leather seats). So the
search continues. Karen and I will spend
time together in the evening. I plan on
wearing my prosthesis to church on Sunday and do a bit of standing and
walking. I am certain that everyone will
be happy to see that.
Thought for the Day:
Do you need to make peace with imperfection? So often we struggle against the
imperfections that we sense in our lives.
Richard Carlson says, “I’ve yet to meet an absolute perfectionist whose
life was filled with inner peace” [Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff And It’s All
Small Stuff]. It can be self-focused
like wishing you were a different person or it could be externally focused like
letting a bad driver who cut you off in traffic upset you the rest of the day. Most of the things that drive us crazy really
shouldn’t.
Some people are wired to always seek to make things better. They want to “do everything with excellence.” That is okay as long as it doesn’t get out of
hand. Despite that inner voice that
screams at us differently, most of the things in life are okay not being
perfect—it’s our focus, our judgment, our insistence that they should be that
drives us batty.
“Whenever we are attached to having something a certain way, better
than it already is, we are, almost by definition, engaged in a losing
battle. Rather than being content and grateful
for what we have, we are focused on what’s wrong with something and our need to
fix it. When we are zeroed in on what’s
wrong, it implies that we are dissatisfied, discontent” [Richard Carlson, Don’t
Sweat the Small Stuff…].
“While there’s always a better way to do something, this doesn’t mean
that you can’t enjoy and appreciate the way things already are. The solution here is to catch yourself when
you fall into your habit of insisting that things should be other than they
are. Gently remind yourself that life is
okay the way it is, right now. In the
absence of your judgment, everything would be fine” [Richard Carlson, Don’t
Sweat the Small Stuff…].
If you find yourself critiquing your kindergartener’s art project
instead of proudly displaying it on the fridge; you’ve got a problem. If you find it hard to sincerely say “thank
you” because the kind deed done toward you wasn’t flawless—you’ve got a problem. If you cannot stand yourself because you aren’t
perfect—you have a major problem.
It is okay to seek to improve upon the things that are; but not at the
expense of enjoying life just the way it is.
Philippians 4:11 “…for I have learned in whatever
situation I am to be content.”
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