Update:
On Saturday
morning I walked in the APPLE Pregnancy Care Center fundraiser. I was grateful for the generous donations
that allowed me to raise over $1,500. My
doctors have restricted the distance I am supposed to walk, so I took my
wheelchair along with me. I would walk
100-150 yards, then propel myself in the wheelchair for a while, then a friend
pushed me for a longer distance. I kept
repeating this process until the walk was complete. Afterwards I purchased the groceries for the
week. After I got home and unloaded the
groceries, I found out that my son was going to borrow my lawnmower on Sunday,
so I needed to cut the grass. Then I
filled up the wood rack all by myself, and took care of another chore that
needed to be done. Most days any one of
those tasks would have been enough. I
was a very tired puppy and slipped into bed earlier than normal (in bed asleep
by 9 p.m.). I had no problem falling
asleep when my head hit the pillow.
On Monday at
noon, I got ready and went out hunting for the first time this season. Last year I was only able to hunt once before
becoming ill leading up to my amputation.
My plan this year is to far exceed last year’s number of hunts. It is more challenging now because I am using
walking sticks for balance, so I don’t have any hands free to carry my bow,
etc. Everything has to be secured on my
back, including my crossbow. I much
prefer being up in a tree stand, but my doctors advised against that, so this
year I am earth-bound. After a while,
the 3-legged stool became VERY uncomfortable—I’ll have to figure something else
out. Oh, how I miss my comfortable
climber tree stand! On the positive
side it was a beautiful day to be out sitting in nature. I had a tiny red squirrel that entertained me
for several hours. He wasn’t quite
certain about me; but after a time he accepted me as part of the
landscape. I enjoyed watching his antics
from about two yards away. I also had
some little birds, (nut hatch, I think) which landed on branches less than two
feet from my face—that was very cool watching them! Trying to walk out after hunting was
certainly more difficult with a prosthetic leg.
Every little stick and branch lying on the ground is a potential
hazard. My legs were a bit stiff after
sitting so long and I really should have added a sock to tighten up my
prosthetic leg before I walked out; but I didn’t want to do that in the
woods. The end result is that although I
didn’t see any deer, I learned a lot and enjoyed the outdoors.
Saturday and
Monday showed me that although I have limits, I still can enjoy life. Though I am slower and everything takes more
energy, I can still accomplish a lot. I
have to think ahead more, marshal my energy, and know my limits. There is only so much charge to my battery
and when the power is drained, I’m done.
However, every day, I see my potential expanding. What was impossible a few months ago is in
many cases now possible. Things have
changed and things will never go back to the way they were; but still and all,
I’ve got it good.
Here’s a
link for a video clip I shot in the woods:
Thought for the Day:
“I am
convinced that one of the major reasons we can’t handle the demands of
day-to-day living is that our spirits are weary. Our souls need to be restored… The
restoration of our souls is a ministry of our Great Shepherd… If I don’t take time to get my spiritual tank
refilled, I soon find myself ‘running on fumes.’” [Nancy Leigh DeMoss].
What do you
do to “refill your spiritual tank”?
Sometimes it is just enough to take the afternoon off and take a nap or
sit and watch the game instead of rushing around to check one more thing off of
our list. Other times it is sitting
quietly and reading the bible and then silently praying about what God just
spoke to us.
For me,
sitting in the woods in the fall is one of those “filling station”
moments. I have time to really
decompress and think about things. While
my eyes are roving around looking for movement in the woods, the rest of me is
sitting perfectly still, doing nothing.
That is such a contrast to our constantly busy, always have music
playing, rushing from one thing to the next typical lifestyle. I have to force myself to stop and
relax. And it is good.
I am not
wasting valuable time sitting in the woods doing nothing. I am doing the most important thing for that
moment by taking the time to replenish my soul.
The Lord knows that I will face plenty of other events in my life this
week that will drain my spiritual batteries and I need something to keep them
charged. It isn’t that I don’t like what
I do; but everything has a cost—there is a price to pay for everything we
do. Think of life like a giant toll
road. Every once and awhile you have to
stop and pay. It usually isn’t much; but
eventually I use up all the change in my ashtray and need to stop to get more
coins. You can only go as far as you
have funds, even if the road continues on further. So it is with life. Each one of us only has so much to give and
when it is gone we are forced to stop for a refill.
Is your
spiritual tank on empty? Do you need to
fill up so that you don’t run out? What
things do you need to do to keep your tank filled? Don’t neglect taking care of
yourself. It’s not being selfish or
lazy; it’s a vital part of your routine.
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