In the Flow with Healing Waters

When children are young we want them to learn their lesson. When they fall down the stairs hopefully they learn how to navigate them safely. When they burn their hand on something hot hopefully they learn what hot means and not to touch it again. When they are biting people, maybe someone needs to bite them back so they understand that it hurts. Well, that sounds a little harsh. When my son was a toddler he would come up behind me and hug my leg affectionately, then bite me. One day I was doing the dishes and he did just that. I pulled my leg away and the bite literally tore my skin open. I swear it was a knee-jerk reaction, I took his little toddler arm and bit him back. I felt awful for doing it but honestly, he learned his lesson and stopped biting. Ok after all these years I got that off my chest.

As adults do we have lessons to learn? Do we even realize when we are given an opportunity to learn a lesson? Generally, when the opportunity comes up it is not a pleasant experience, so we may get frustrated, angry, sad, turn to blaming others, feeling shameful, shutting down to others, etc. When we get stuck in all those negative emotions we miss the opportunity to actually learn our lesson.

I have a character flaw, well let’s be honest I have more than one!! But the one I was hoping to change was patience, my lack of patience that is. So I was actually praying about how I wanted to be more patient in many areas of my life. Actually, I am not even patient with myself. One beautiful morning exactly 6 weeks ago I was enjoying a game of pickleball. I reached way beyond my capacity to the right and fell resulting in a fractured wrist. Thus began my lesson in patience. I am right-handed, it was my right wrist, and I had to wear a cast.

What did I learn?

1. I will never pray for patience again. I will just implement it.
2. It is humbling to ask for help.
3. Asking for help allows others to be a giver and they get to feel good about themselves 
4. I learned to slow down and be in the moment 
5. I learned the challenges of being right-handed and doing most things left-handed. I have great empathy for those who suffer a stroke and never get to use their dominant hand normally again. 
6. Frustration is not helpful….at all. Actually, I believe that frustration and lack of patience are first cousins.
7. I had several issues with my cast and I was seen 3 times. The original cast was removed at one point because it was so tight my fingers were numb. The second cast was also very tight but I did not want to look like a big baby and whiner so I tolerated the cast. Now the cast is off and I am having complications from the cast being too tight. So my lesson is it is ok to be an advocate for myself. 
8. My perfectionism Ugh!! I certainly learned that some things had to be good enough, and that’s ok.
9. I learned I NEVER want to wear a cast again. 

I could continue on with this list but you get the point.  I really want to encourage whoever is reading this to look for opportunities to learn your lessons. It is usually in the adversary that we can learn our most valuable lessons. There are many seasons in life, some are incredibly awesome and some not so much. Whatever season you find yourself in, embrace it and figure out what is the lesson you are supposed to learn. 

Learning my lesson in the flow,

Donna