Pain In The Neck

I read my Bible and "hang out" in the traction device

Steve tries out the traction device before he has me use it

My last blog was titled "Heads Up!". This one is titled "Pain In The Neck". I am having a lot of neck and upper back pain lately, probably from being at the computer quite a bit. It hurts when I look up. As I winced around the room yesterday morning, Steve asked if there was anything he could do to help me. I said that I had bought a traction device from my chiropractor several months ago, but had never set it up because it seemed complicated. As I continued wincing and trying not to look up or sideways, I heard a rustling in the closet and saw that Steve was assembling this device. It was, indeed, rather complicated. But, he got it put together, tested out and had me, well, hanging, sort of, for a few minutes there. I need to use it on a regular basis to make it effective.

Like all disciplines, this traction device will require my regular commitment. The reward will be increased neck and upper back health. It reminds me of words I heard spoken by Dallas Willard, when he was discussing his book, The Divine Conspiracy.

"You don't drift into discipleship with Jesus," Willard observed. Discipline, he explained, is what you do to meet a goal that you could not meet simply by trying harder. This could be a goal like speaking a language or playing a Beethoven sonata. These things do not happen simply by "trying harder". They happen with regular practice in the proper way.

And so, in our Christian walk, he explained,  grace comes in to help us accomplish what we cannot accomplish on our own. But the grace appears when we practice the discipline, when we obey what we know to be right.

So, I will go put myself in traction and read my Bible and thank my wonderful husband for setting up that complicated contraption.  And I will watch as grace comes in. Although I am going out to meet Grace for coffee on Tuesday...

--Posted by Mama O.