Singer on the Sand: You Raise Me Up

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength;

They will soar on wings like eagles;

They will run and not grow weary,

They will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

I have been going to Physical Therapy for seven weeks now – trying to repair an exercise injury I received in January. The winter was so cold this last season, and I was not doing much of anything for exercise - it was too cold to go outside and I don’t have a gym membership. I finally decided to attend an aerobics class at the local community building. The class was face-paced – more energy than I had expended for months. Monday I threw myself into the process with my usual gung-ho attitude, and really enjoyed the class. Tuesday I went back, still positive and gung-ho, and had another great class. Wednesday – ten minutes into the session, I knew that something was drastically wrong. I had a stabbing pain in my hip region, matched by another one down the front of my thigh.

I stopped going to the class and figured that I had strained a muscle or pinched a nerve and a few days of rest would set me right. Au contraire. As the days lengthened to months, the injury’s nagging pain never left; sometimes it was in the background, sometimes painfully in the forefront. Finally, in May, I gave in and went to the doctor.

Pete, my PT, told me that I had a piriformis glute injury and at least three hot spots in my IT band. Progress has been slow but steady. Lectures regarding “things not working quite as well as they used to” were frequent at first, but now they have changed to building hip strength. I hate getting older. I hate not being able to just fly out the door and do all the things I am used to doing.

Spiritually, we humans tend to have lots of “muscle” strains and sprains. Sometimes nothing seems to work in our efforts to connect with God. The problem, however, is not on God’s side, but on ours. He has promised to lift us up – to help us fly like eagles – to keep our spiritual hearts tender towards our fellowman, and constantly connecting with the One who created us. He never turns away from us, He never forgets us, He never stops loving us.