O.k. so I am getting cabin fever like it is nobody’s business. Because I can’t sit still it has taken my dumb knee over 3 weeks to heal instead of one week. I feel totally trapped now because I MUST get better within 5 days, before my daughter arrives. What is keeping me trapped in this instance is my own body via injury, unfortunately not enough so that I have stopped escaping to venture out and down the 3 flights of stairs and into the village below, thusly my leg is still injured after WAY too long of time. Rest, that is all it needs. Basically I have trapped myself for far too long because I didn’t stay put for a shorter amount of time.
But I think this is a great way of looking how so many problems happen in our lives. Instead of looking at a situation positively, “Oh boy, I get to take a much needed rest!” it becomes a time of being trapped. In the mindset of being trapped it is easy to desire to escape, to break free….of bonds that aren’t really bonds at all. For me this really struck home when I was sitting at the desk in the early morning chatting with my son on skype, he could see out the window behind me, through the bars of the terrace over the tiled roofs of the homes across the way and to the green rolling hills and great big sky overhead. He says, “You have a terrace with a view, you can just sit out there all day long and look at Italy, I’m on my way!” As I keep feeling trapped on the 3rd floor he is seeing the beauty of the world outside my self-imposed “cell” as a panorama to be savored and enjoyed.
One of the architectural details here is that so many lower windows have bars, many put in place before there were glass pane to keep the critters out. With the patina of years of rust and age, they are actually quite pretty. These barriers to keep out unwanted guests are not meant to imprison anyone. As we face situations in our lives that need addressing, sometimes we will need appropriate barriers, if I had fully rested the first week of my injury instead of moving to a new home and periodically escaping to go see friends and attend events I would have been up and dancing after a week. It is now 3 weeks, and I am realizing how foolish it was not to simply follow the guidance of my many friends, that I have in fact trapped myself.
So today, tomorrow and hopefully all better by Sunday, but still it is God’s Day, I will rest, I will stay on the 3rd floor overlooking the beauty of Italy, watching the many colorful species of birds and enjoy the gift of the day. Hopefully I will remember that in God I am free, even if I am staying put for a few days. To see even this time as a gift.
O.k. so I have ranted on this one before, It is becoming my mantra for the next few days, this time I’m going to do it, this time I am staying put….this time….
Have you ever found yourself in a self made prison?
What did or will it take to escape for you?
How do you see life as opportunities instead of barriers?
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