Sorry everyone for the delay (Spoiler: my ankle is healing great per my orthopedic doc!)
A couple days ago, I did a silly thing... I stepped off of a curb.
It may not seem like a silly thing, but it ended up being just that-plus a painful experience. My shoe ended up in a storm drain and I sprained my ankle. Its funny how these things happen. You are just going about life, and all of a sudden, you do something you've done probably a trillion times (like stepping off of a curb) and BAM - sprained ankle.
While trying to be a compliant patient these last couple days and doing the good 'ole R.I.C.E acronym for treatment of a sprain, I had time to think. A LOT of time to think. My mind began to replay what happened, how I did this or how I could have changed the outcome. I realized a very small detail that could have saved me to from this.... crossing at the corner.
You Pittsburghers (or temporary burgher's that go to school around here) know that it is a rarity that someone does actually cross at the corner. I realized though, this is a lackadaisical practice that has been passed along from person to person. It becomes a routine of how we walk around a city. The end is the same if you go to the corner or not, you cross the street. How much harder is it to walk to the corner? For real.
I began to then think of this in our spiritual lives as well. We sometimes get in to the routine of an exterior spiritual life. We do things a trillion times, but then BAM something in your life isn't going right and you begin to find somewhere to put blame. When truly sometimes, all it would have taken is to walk to the corner this time instead of just crossing in the middle of the street. It especially hit me in regards to The Holy Mass. How many times I have gone in my life, as though I was just crossing in the middle of the street, knowing there is a benefit, but not putting the little bit of extra work of walking to the corner to preparing myself properly. If I would just walk a little extra to the corners of life, I could end up getting where I need to go just the same and maybe with less pain.
However, sometimes its those pains in life that help us realize the great joys! So take some time to R.I.C.E your soul:
R- Rest: Rest in His Spirit
I - Ice: Ice out those areas of sin.
C- Compression: Compress(ie: decrease) the excess busyness of life
E - Elevation: Elevate your eyes and heart to the Lord
Peace my friends!
