But [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

This is one of those mornings when I have a lot on my mind, but nothing in particular that is jumping up and down waving its arms saying “pick me!” or “The world needs to hear about this!”

But then I remember that this blog is essentially my journal… my morning devotional… my prayer list. And so I offer my thoughts up to God: The new teaching jobs that Andrew and Alicia are starting in Michigan, Naomi still working out her new life in Orlando, all four grandchildren beginning this new school year, the extensive plumbing repairs we just found out about here at Maul-Hall, navigating the health nuances of our new decade.

Just sifting through my thoughts and my concerns as a prayer list rather than a catalogue of worries changes a lot, and I am reminded of faith-words such as trust and promise and hope and comfort and truths such as “God’s grace is sufficient.”

Compromised “Core”

The one item I did consider writing about today is the physical therapy I have just started for my back. Historically, I never had any back problems, but over the last year (probably after I moved all our stuff from Wake Forest to Tarboro via the rental house and the storage shed) some issues have flared up.

So my doctor prescribed physical therapy and it is an interesting process. It turns out that I cannot lie flat on my back and that I cannot do even one single sit-up. Of course I can’t remember the last time I even tried a sit-up so who knows how long my body has been avoiding pain via work-arounds that have left me without any strength in my “core.”

Because that is what we do, we make unconscious adjustments to avoid pain. My back has learned to arch when I try to lay flat, thereby taking muscle pain out of play. But now I can’t sleep without pain and hence the physical therapy.

According to my physical therapist, my “core” is letting me down, so she has prescribed a series of movements designed to strengthen that region of my body. But the “core” is not like a bicep on your arm or a calf muscle on you leg, where you can move it directly and watch it respond. The core is strengthened tangentially, in response to doing a variety of activities such as pushing my hands on an exercise ball while lying on my back.

Our “core” is critically important:

It’s kind of like my spirit or my soul. I strengthen what it is to be a spiritual person via a whole slew of tangential disciplines. Service to others, prayer, worship, loving, encouraging, humility, learning, kindness, extending grace and mercy, living as light in this world… the list could go on.

My soul, my spiritual nature, is my “core” when it comes to making the most of this life. I find that I am more effective in every other area if I work to strengthen who I am in relation to God. Not a muscle I can flex but an inner power and assurance and strength…

Or, as my physical therapist told me, not aware that she was also being spiritually astute, “your core is what stabilizes and powers everything else about you.”

That will preach – DEREK