watch where you are going

Jan 17, 2010

That is the lesson of last night. I must have really needed to learn it because I ended up in quite a mess by not watching where I was going.

I was walking out of a store with my friend and walked right into a thigh-high statue. Other people may have just banged their leg on it or fallen to the side, but I flew right over top of it and landed very unceremoniously on my elbow. All 130 lbs. of me. Right on my elbow – then my knees came crashing down as well. Then the pain hit. Hard. People were of course staring at me as I was moaning there on the ice cold sidewalk. I was amazed at how much pain I was in and kept trying to figure out how I got from being an upright, put together human being to this crumpled crying life form on the ground.

With the help of my friend I was finally able to make it to the car and I thought I would be okay. After a few minutes, the endorphins were not keeping up with the pain very well and sharp waves of pain would pulse through me and bring on the moaning again. Despite my protests, my friend insisted on driving me home and putting me to bed. Good thing too – the drive home was excruciating. Every little bump jarred my arm and took my breath away.

When I woke up this morning, after a long and uncomfortable night, I tried to stretch my arm a little. A loud wake-up-Richard-from-deep-sleep sound exploded from my arm and then it felt a lot better. It must have been a little dislocated and now put itself back together properly.

Although I am still really sore, I am functioning and able to get around. I went to church and gave my Primary class strict instructions not to touch me.

Now, isn’t this all a great metaphor for life? When we watch where we are going things usually go better. We can avoid many obstacles, distractions, and pain if we will just look ahead of us, be aware of our surroundings, and have a vision of where we want to go.

So many times I have been unaware of where I was going in my life. Bumbling along I would try to make the best of a situation, but I would often find myself in repair, recover, and rescue mode instead of action mode. I spend my time fixing my past decisions instead of being able to push forward with a clean slate.

I am still in that mode (maybe that is why I am frequently running into doors…and now statues!) but I am striving to be in action mode where I can look ahead and set a course to work towards.

My planner (remember my amazing birthday present to myself?) has been helping me greatly in this area. Even though I am still an unorganized fool, I am a million times more organized than I was pre-planner. Now, to tackle the rest of my life!