G is for Giving it Your All

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As I limped home after walking my daughter to her babysitting job, my dog tugged at me to hobble faster.  I suffer with pain issues from arthritis in a small bone in my foot.  When it’s acting up, it feels like walking on a broken foot.  Tendinitis adds to the irritation and pain.  It hurts. 

“Stop Gooper.”  I yanked back at the leash.  “I’m giving it my all.”

After the words came out of my mouth, the questions flooded into my mind.  WAS I giving it my all?  What did that really mean?  Was I taking that term a bit too lightly?  After all, I was using it to chastise my dog.

A few weeks before this, I walked an 8K race with my daughter.  My foot was doing ok comparatively.  Though I had been working out, we hadn’t trained for the race, and it was a 2 mile jaunt just to get to the start.  I really hadn’t thought this was all that big of a deal, but plodding through that last mile, I was hurting.  It felt every bit as hard as the last mile of the marathon I HAD trained for several years earlier.  Oh boy, I was giving it my all just to crawl to that finish line. 

Was I though?  I thought I couldn’t walk another step, but I did; and another and another. 

So many times I’m dragging;  I can’t do one more thing.  I can’t…  I’ve given my all, but I know.  As hard as I may have pushed myself, as deserved as the rest might be, giving it my all, that’s something else all together. 

American soldiers are giving and have given their all.  People around the world dying for their faith are giving their all.  The one who most comes to mind as giving His all, is Jesus, the Christ. 

Jesus told us what giving it all looks like, and it’s all about love.  He said,  

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” 

John15:13

He did.  He laid His life down for everyone who puts their trust in Him as the remedy for their human problem.  It’s a beautiful example of giving one’s all.  It’s worth finding out more about.  

A to Z Challenge

It's About Relationships

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Life is about relationships.  How does evolution explain that?  The relationship between male and female to propagate the species, ok, that would be necessary, but relationships with emotions, encouragement, laughter,   connectedness with      friends, frustration, challenges, hurt, emoting of any kind, well, that makes no sense at all in the evolutionary model.  We were made for relationship by a loving God who created us first and foremost to have relationship with Him.  God knows about relationships since He was in relationship in the context of the Trinity before the creation of the world.  Relationship, then, is part of the innate character of who God is.  When thought of in this context, relationship makes perfect sense; it is an expression of the character of God.

The kind of relationship that reflects the character of God is relationship of commitment.  God is committed within the Trinity, and He is committed to us, His fallen creatures who He has created in His image, to reflect His character and dwell in His pleasure.  It is the fallen part that makes relating and commitment so hard.  We find it hard to love, hard to forgive, hard to just get along.  However, if we will work through the challenges, delight in the God who made us, submit to the Holy Spirit given to us to help us as we struggle through relating, we will find richness, growth, and joy by standing firm in our committed relationships.  “It is of Jehovah's lovingkindness that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.  Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.”  (Lamentations 3:22-24)  God is loving and faithful to put up with us and see us through to the end.  Will we reflect that loving faithfulness in our approach to those whom God has given us in relationship, whether they deserve it or not?

Storms Come. Be Ready.

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“Mom, I heard a quote the other day that I know you would like.  ‘Storms will come in life, but without rain, we’d have a drought.’”

As part of a Bible Study assignment, we were discussing the oft repeated one-liners spoken in our home over the years.  The exercise was to consider the things you have heard in your home, and then evaluate those thoughts from a Biblical perspective.

We listed several of the ones we could think of that had become part of the family mantras: 

Dunns are different.

Make good choices.

Nothing good happens after midnight.

It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with it.

Attitude ‘A’ everyday!

Be a blessing and be blessed.

Leave a place better than you found it.

Be part of the solution not the problem.

Remember, you are an ambassador for Christ.

What you practice you become.

The Joy Pain Offers

Though when in the midst of pain, its positive benefits may not be our primary focus, perhaps they should be.  Tolerating, and perhaps even welcoming pain, may also be just a delight away.  What can we do to foster a productive view of pain while seeking to endure it, move through it, and overcome it to the greatest degree possible?  There are probably multifarious answers to this question, but I would like to explore it just a bit from my own experience.  Pain comes in all shapes and sizes, from mild discomfort to torturous torment.  Much of it we bring or have brought on ourselves as a result of choices we make or have made, choices which may have been good or bad. 

Some obvious bad choices, like smoking, can have immediate negative consequences, and down the road, long term painful effects.  The short term negatives are painful as well, though we may not define them as such because the magnitude is minimal.  If we are self-aware and responsive to that self-awareness, that discomfort brought about by the negatives of smoking, even if minute initially, could act as a catalyst to bring about change which would help us make better choices.  Pain combined with self-awareness then can help us move out of poor choices and into better ones - one thing to be joyful about. 

Though I know people who smoke who I wish would gain some self-awareness from their discomfort to redirect their paths, it isn’t my personal pain problem.  However, there are irritations and even significant tribulations which I have been party to creating in my own life.  Eating too much and eating the wrong things have added burdens to my body that left their mark in unwelcome and even agonizing ways.  Failing to floss as sedulously as I should, I have suffered with multiple misfortunes of the dental kind.  Impetuous decisions and actions, as well as letting emotions guide me, have resulted in significant loss, unnecessary conflicts, and other consequential troubles, which have been problematically painful.  None of these self-inflicted wounds were joyful in themselves, but when viewed  rightly, they did cause me to grow in fruitful ways.  I have learned that knowledge IS power and so have sought to acquire all I can to address and conquer my infirmities, empowering me to take actions to deal with the source problem as well as the symptoms that resulted.  I need not be defeated because I have issues of age or ailment or anything else.  I can move from defeat to triumph with sagacious reflection and action.  

Some of the problems with which I will have to continue to contend are not in and of themselves a joy either, but they can be a reminder of all that there is to be joyful about.  Developing a heart of thanksgiving helps deflect an attitude of bitterness, dejection, or anger.  “Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I say rejoice.”  Philippians 4:4.  This verse is prescriptive as is this whole chapter of the book of Philippians in the Bible.  When we can learn to turn our thinking around, count our blessings, if you will, we can gain perspective on our problems and deal effectively with those issues that will pull us down.  We need not give in to a downward drift if we can foster an attitude of gratitude which will pull us up and perpetuate a delight-directed life.

Of course pain is not always self-wrought.  We encounter a myriad of painful emotional trials and physical tribulations which assault us without any provocation.  These too, however, can be dealt with in similar fashion, and those outside our control often offer the greatest benefits.  

Self-awareness, perspicacious action, and deliberate contemplative, and celebratory gratitude will empower anyone to address whatever we encounter.  There is no substitute for God’s prescriptions from which these three principles flow.  As pain leads one to spend more time in His company, we attain the greatest benefit of them all. 

From Pain to Natural Healing

My journey into blogging began with my journey into better health.  I have suffered with several pain issues over the past several years, most recently a debilitating bout with back pain.  Two herniated discs, one bulging and putting pressure on nerves leading into my arm, kept me in excruciating pain.  After more than a month of chiropractic care, several different medications for pain, and physical therapy, the spine surgeon said, “It’s time for surgery.”  He explained the surgery to me, and I went home to think about it.  It did not take more than a few days for me to agree; the pain was just too unbearable, and I could endure it no longer.  

After my decision, however, I began to have moments of relief.  The moments turned to hours, and I began to question the wisdom of running to surgery.  I talked with a number of people who had chosen to do it and a few who had decided not to, who had chosen to wait.  Then I would have days of misery which would send me back to considering the operation as the only option.  As the day drew near though, I seemed to be bearing the unbearable more tolerably.  I noticed that my good days were becoming more frequent and my bad days less severe.  Just a few days before, I decided to hold off on surgery to give me time to investigate healthy alternatives and natural healing methods as I continued physical therapy.  It was 2 and 1/2 months since this particular episode of back pain had begun, and I felt like I was improving.  I could wait.

One night as I struggled to sleep, the idea of oil pulling popped into my head.  It had been 20 years since someone had mentioned this idea to me.  At that time, a friend who had suffered with disabling fatigue to the point of being bedridden told me someone had suggested to her that she try oil pulling.  Since she was willing to try anything, it didn’t take much convincing.  She told me after just three days, she had more energy than she had had in years and was on the road to recovery.  This person was one of the most energetic people I knew at the time.  I couldn't imagine her with chronic fatigue. 

What would make me think of this now, I didn’t know?  I could barely remember what it even was, but like my friend, I was willing to try anything -- within reason.  The next day investing some time in searching the internet for oil pulling, I was not disappointed with the wealth of information I found there.  I would try it.

Taking into my mouth a tablespoon of olive oil, I swished back and forth for 20 minutes, then spit it out.  Surprisingly, I DID notice an elevation in my energy level.  I continued to do this for several days, but decided to also continue my research both of oil pulling and other natural health approaches.  If I was going to heal my back, I knew that weight, sleep, and better eating were part of the key, and I also knew that God, the author and finisher of all things good,  ultimately had the answers.  What started as a vague thought about oil pulling became an all out delight-directed search for truth in healing.

It occurred to me then that I could be successful in any area if I would let delight direct my path.  First, I got excited about seeking out the truth regarding oil pulling.  I found a book, Oil Pulling Therapy by Bruce Fife, and consumed it.  So thrilled about what I was learning, I shared my message with everyone who would listen.  I bought several copies of the book so I could lend them out to friends who asked for more as well.  I immersed myself in learning all I could learn about oil pulling, then moved on to the tangents of natural healing that branched out from my study - coconut oil, detox methods, healing crisis, and more.  The point is, as I poured myself into this education and actively decided to stir this passion, it became my delight and directed my course to successful healing.

I am so grateful to God for a new-found comprehension of not only healthy healing alternatives, but in my growth of understanding of delight’s role in success.  Working to motivate myself was as important as what I did to heal, because it was fuel for being able to carry it out.  I could be an active agent in healing my body and stirring my delight.  About three months since my decision began to hold off surgery, I was eating better and lost 30 pounds.  I was sleeping better and had additional energy.  I was off all medications and had relief in my back like I hadn’t had in 6 months since my most recent occurrence began and years since I started having back pain originally.  I felt like a new person.  Answers are available and the move towards health - spiritual, emotional, physical - is just a delight away.  

Update:  Now a year since that bout of back pain occurred, I am still holding it at bay.  I do have to be sure my exercise includes stretching or I feel it creeping back into the danger zone.  I do use my neck traction devices a couple times a week or more if it is acting up.  A tens unit, which can be purchased for as little as about $30 on Amazon, has been great for helping with pain.  I have had to resort to medication on an off, but no longer do I live on ibuprofen.  Natural methods are still providing relief from pain and delight in the journey.