Today is my first post-op appointment with my surgeon

I previously thought that appointment would be yesterday (Monday), but now realize it is actually for Tuesday.

I am looking forward to this meeting. He is supposed to remove the staples and bandages, inspect the wound and evaluate my progress and chart my direction from this point forward.

My plans were to be in church last Sunday, but after getting counsel from a patient who had undergone knee replacement I came to agree that sitting that long would be harmful to me. (a 45 minute drive each way and then the church services).

This has been an interesting experience. Sad, that so much of my thinking is focused on MY needs, MY progress MY pains. Surely, this is not how God planned for us to live our lives.

Lord, help me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way
That even when I kneel to pray
My prayer shall be for others.

At times, my cry is to be free from pain . . . but has He not called us to suffer?

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a FAR MORE exceeding and eternal weight of glory. II Cor 4:17

Can we still rejoice and be kind even when in pain? Jesus was! “Father, forgive them . . . “
Can we put our eyes on OTHERS when so very aware of our own needs? Jesus did! “Today, thou shalt be with me . . .”

I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne’re a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When sorrow walked with me.

Robert Browning Hamilton

I will give you an update this after my appointment. It is pre-determined to be “good news” for surely God is working all these things together for good.

I love you . . . because HE first loved us.