Life Lessons on Ice

I've always maintained that there are a lot of parallels between running and life. Yesterday I found another. Less than a mile into my run with it still mostly dark outside I started across what looked like a wet place at an intersection of two streets. It's always wet at this particular spot, so I didn't think much of it. I usually try to pick a path through it that doesn't involve stepping in too much water (Adidas Climacool shoes, which have vents in the bottom + stepping in standing water = wet socks). As I planted my right foot I heard a splash, so I quickly pushed off to jump the rest of the way across the wet area.

Unfortunately what appeared to be water was at least in part ice. My right leg went sideways and I came down on my left knee and shin. Thankfully I was wearing running tights and gloves, which were enough to keep the road rash from being too terribly bad. I hope no one saw me right after that, I was limping for the next half-block or so. I got home to find that I had torn a small hole in my tights (which are vintage, circa 1994) and bloodied my knee. Nothing a bottle of peroxide, some Neosporin, and a few band-aids can't fix.

I think the life lesson for me here is a reminder of how quickly things can change. One minute you're going along and everything is great. Next minute you completely lose your footing and end up bloody. Life has a way of throwing curves - and rarely does it hang them high and over the plate like a pitcher who's faced one too many batters.

James warns us against assuming we know how things will go, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit' - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring." (James 4:13-14a, ESV) There is a danger in expecting things to go just like they have been or just like we expect them to. James gives us a better perspective, "Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'" (James 4:15, ESV)

I saw one other parallel in my incident yesterday morning. Sometimes when we get knocked down we don't really have time to do anything but get up and move on. When you find yourself on the ground and bleeding you can choose to get up and keep going - leaving the damage assessment for later - or you can stop to check damage immediately. Sometimes in life we don't get a choice. A loved one dies the week before your wedding or the birth of a child/grandchild. Parents decide they are done trying to make things work the week before you head off to college. You find out that your fiance has been unfaithful on the night before you start your first big job.

In situations like these (all of which I made up and I hope no one ever has to endure, though I know they happen daily somewhere in the world) you don't have much time to assess the damage or let wounds heal. The pace of life must roll on and we run the risk of carrying deep scars we don't even recognize for years into the future because there is simply no time to allow God to bring healing.

I'm not a counselor by any means, as with investing I leave that to the professionals. Here's my simplistic thoughts on the subject. When you find yourself wounded and stopping to heal isn't immediately an option, you must intentionally set aside time in the not so distant future to deal with the pain and scars of the incident. How to do that and what that will need to look like will vary from person to person. What seems to happen when people never deal with their pain is that it comes back years later much worse than if it had been dealt with originally.

A word of encouragement to end with since most of this dealt with the challenges of life. In II Corinthians Paul writes, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (II Cor. 4:16-18, ESV) While we have to recognize and address the pain and scars that exist in our lives here on earth, ultimately they will pale in comparison to the glory that waits in Heaven. The struggle here is real, the pain deep, but in the end we will be victorious in Christ. The challenge to me seems to be getting past the pain, through the healing, so that we can truly move on to what God has in store for our futuer.