I’ve got an ‘inside morning spot’ where I sit (most) days to drink my coffee, read, & generally slowly ramp up for the day. I’ve also got an ‘outside morning spot’ which I love to use when the weather permits &/or when it’s not SOAKED like it was today. But I digress…
After settling in to my spot on the couch, I had a thought. “My left hip & leg really flex into this spot pretty easily, with little to no effort on my part”. My mind wandered a bit to my other side, my right hip & leg, which aren’t quite as flexible, something I’ve known for a long time, but also had recently confirmed by the testimony of two witnesses. Those being the great physical therapy staff at the midtown office of Nevada Physical Therapy. They gave me some exercises that I do (just about) every day to improve my right hip mobility, but it is a slooooow process. Which leads me to this morning.
More thoughts: “What if my left leg & hip are more flexible because of my morning routine & because of how I tuck my leg into the couch under me every day? And if that has helped me (& I hadn’t given a thought to sitting a certain way to improve mobility) MAYBE I could sit on the opposite side of the couch & do the same with my RIGHT leg & see what happens.”
And so I did.
And I felt it in the hip joint immediately. Yes. That is going to be very helpful. Just had to switch ends of the couch.
I haven’t told theBean yet that I’ll be in HER morning spot, but I’m pretty sure she’ll be just fine with it.
Sitting in the new morning spot, feeling my hip get stretchy, musing about the lessons & insights that just ‘appear’ in our days when we’re listening to the nudges of the Holy Spirit… made me think how sometimes our ‘stuck’ or ‘sticky’ areas of life just require a change in perspective or a shift in routine. A subtle stretching of the auto-pilot lives we can be prone to living. I finished my morning reading with a prayer, asking God to give me His point of view on ME, on my life, & on the areas in my life that are stuck, in a rut, &/or are in a ‘maybe this is just the way it is,” or ‘maybe this is as good as it gets,’ kind of mode. He’s got a different way of looking at me that I can sometimes sense He’s inviting me to consider.
My prayer for me (& for you) today is that the Holy Spirit would bring to your mind your everyday behaviors, routines, & patterns that He would like to interrupt. Not just for the sake of interruption or to introduce chaos, but rather to help us combat practices that may foster inflexibility, stuck-ness, &/or an unexamined life.
Think about taking a new route to work. Sitting in a new spot for your morning/evening times. Add a new exercise, or even better, add some focused stretching to your life (YouTube has some great ideas on this.) And as you do, look for the areas God is doing something in/through/around you. Even if/when it stretches you.