Tending Gently to Old Injuries

It truly is amazing how far a little grace can go.

Back in high school, I decided I wanted to run track. All my friends ran track and they all had so many fun stories. They got to check out early on many spring afternoons and I wanted in on the fun. The problem was, I wasn’t a runner. I hated to run with a purple passion. I had been a gymnast for quite a few years and later, a cheerleader, but never a runner.

However, a friend convinced me that the long jump could be for me. It wasn’t running. It was jumping. I reasoned that years of doing vault in gymnastics, made me a prime candidate. About the third practice, I injured a hamstring, severely. It hurt to walk or move much at all and jumping was definitely out. After resting it a few days and it was no better, I sadly gave up on my track dreams and that was a good thing because I didn’t think that hamstring would ever stop hurting. But, eventually it did.

I rarely think about my long jump failure, until that hamstring starts aggravating me and it still does. From time to time, it aches, either from running, (who knew I would end up liking a little bit of running?) or most recently, from a new yoga program. In the past, I would just ignore it an push through it, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the importance of listening to my aches and pains. When something hurts, it’s best to give it some rest and care, because the older you get, the harder it is to heal.

As I was putting some heat on it the other day, I began to think about some of the aches and pains that come from simply living and I found myself thinking about the heart ones as well. Just like our bodies sometimes have to deal with old injuries, our hearts sometimes carry old hurts.

Even the ones that have healed, sometimes leave scars and can ache. Old childhood traumas like rejection and anger or broken hearts and broken relationships later in life, leave their mark on us. Sometimes for seemingly no reason, something happens that triggers a painful memory or emotion. When that happens, we have two options, just like we do with the physical injuries.

We can ignore it and power through, pushing it all down and hoping that it doesn’t manifest itself later through some hurtful words or actions towards others, who did nothing to deserve them, or we can choose a different way.

We can choose to acknowledge old hurts either just to ourselves, or in prayer, or even to a trusted friend and then we can let them go. Because sometimes just the acknowledgement of the trials and battles we have survived, is enough to strengthen any weak spot and get us back on our way and if we need further help with healing, God is always willing to provide. We only have to ask.

It’s truly amazing how far a little grace can go.

An aching hamstring reminded me. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂