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Learning to Walk, Again…

By July 8, 2018August 30th, 2022Devotional

The last several weeks have seen many changes in my recovery. First of all, my usual PT person went on vacation last week and so I had another therapist during my last two appointments. He was somewhat more aggressive in my exercises than the regular person and he gave me several assignments that really stretched my ability. At one point in our first session together, he actually asked me to walk across the room without my brace on.

I know that this probably doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it half scared me to death. After all, the last step I remember was a doozy and I ended up on my back, looking up at the clouds and wondering how seriously I had hurt myself. That was back on April 23rd. Little did I realize that I had a traumatic rupture to my quad tendon that would require surgery and close to a year of rehab to get back to normal. In fact, I could only see forward to the surgery and didn’t even really consider all the post-surgical ramifications of the accident.

So when I was challenged to walk across the room, I was a little terrified. I gingerly took a step and it felt incredibly strange. It was like my leg was rewired and things didn’t feel the same. The therapist told me that I would, for all intents and purposes, have to learn to walk again. The tendon and muscle in my right leg is now shorter than it was and mechanically, things aren’t exactly the same as they used to be.

After my PT session last Tuesday I also had an appointment with the surgeon who affirmed that I am making great progress. In fact, he let me know that in three or four weeks, the brace will be a thing of the past and I will be able to get along on my own. He also told me that I could start sleeping without the brace on and when I am at home, I can take the brace off and practice walking with my reconstructed tendon. In fact, he also said that I could start driving again and things would progress faster with allowing me more latitude on movement.

That, however, doesn’t translate in being more stable when I try to walk. The only way I can describe this is to think about when you see a small child starting to walk. They are unsteady, start to wobble back and force, and you wonder how they are going to make it across the room. Yet, eventually, they get the hang of it, and they are off to the races. The only problem is that I am still unsteady and it’s getting kind of old. I watch the ground like a hawk, worrying that I could fall again and undo all the progress I have made during the last 10 weeks. However, driving has been very natural for me and hasn’t been an issue at all.

I thought my recovery would be easier than this. But I am resigned to realizing that time is the element that I can’t control. Sooner or later, I will be back to normal and I am just going to have to be patient. This is not so much different from our Christian walk. Each of us starts out as a baby in the faith – and we must learn the basics before we can progress and become more mature in our faith. Sometimes, we wish to advance faster than is practical – but first, we need to learn the basics and only then will we be able to understand the more complex parts of theology and improve our walk the with Lord.

Our verse for tonight is from the writer of Hebrews. The unknown author of this book tells us, in Hebrews 5:12-13, “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.”

My encouragement this evening is that we have a patient God – One who teaches us over and over about His love for us – many times through demonstrating that love firsthand. My prayer is that all of us will remember the basics of the faith and how important love is to God. And should we ever forget our way, I pray that God will gently love us back into obedience – even if we are unsure of ourselves and it takes some time to get comfortable once again. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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