Mobility

December 22, 2017

This morning when I awoke, I rolled over and winced. My hips have recently been registering mild protest over being forced to bear the bulk of my weight. Ignoring their complaints, I got out of bed and proceeded downstairs for my morning ablutions. Linda had a breakfast meeting with a friend, so I was on my own. A hard boiled egg, muffin, and coffee got the day started. The amazing part of all this is how effortlessly my fingers opened the refrigerator, peeled the egg, scooped the coffee and handled the faucet for the pot. 

My gait was steady as I moved into the back room where I sat to read my Bible, turning the pages effortlessly. Sitting and rising were a piece of cake. So it went through the day as we drove to Rochester to visit my mother in rehab for her broken wrist. Physical and Occupational therapy were the order of the day for her. We sat by as she did leg lifts, walked back and forth, got up from and sat down in her wheelchair. The room was filled with mostly elderly men and women struggling to accomplish the simplest of tasks, things that in years past they would have done without even thinking. But on this day, they were working hard to gain strength and mobility. 

We don’t even think about the movements that make up our days; the myriad messages that travel from brain to muscle, forcing thousands of different contractions that enable us to make a fist, rotate our wrist, raise a toe. The Bible says it well: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made...” And I am grateful for the amazing complexity that is behind the simplest of movements. May I never take it for granted. I got a glimpse of the future today—my future, perhaps, giving me a new appreciation of the wonderful life I have been given.