Levels of Recovery

Friday, May 31, 2013

Besides quite a few phone visits, today more family came to visit me: Teresa and her boys, Aaron and Sherri and their kids, and Heidi and Bryce and their boys.  I probably overdid it, but I enjoyed a short walk outdoors, sitting and visiting, eating pizza, and playing Ticket To Ride for a while.  All in all, it has been a great day.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Whoa!  I'd better slow down a bit.  I still feel pretty good, but there is more "pinching" pain around the drain tube that makes me not want to move too much.  I spent a good part of the day in bed and slept a lot.  No walks today except to the kitchen and back.  Frank and KayLyn Shaw stopped by in the evening to bring some flowers from Anson and Lora.  We had a nice visit about the great thing we have in common—our amazing grandchildren.  I like them and enjoyed our short visit.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

I slept really well last night.  I could enjoy sleeping on my side again, so that is probably part of the reason.  I seldom sleep on my back, and when I do I often wake myself eventually with snoring.  The pain is so much better now with only occasional pinches and good range of motion in my arm.  I just still feel kind of weak and get tired easily.  I took the time to take a sponge bath and wash my hair.  It was a little harder drying it than I thought it would be, but I managed.  Maybe I should have waited a little longer.  Teresa called to see if they could come keep me company while Ammon's family is at church.  Another enjoyable visit.  

I finished reading the book that Teresa loaned me, Remembering Isaac by Ben Behunin.  I enjoyed it, light reading I would say in the range of young adult fiction.  There are two more books, Discovering Isaac and Becoming Isaac.  Hopefully reading the other two won't change my opinion of this author.

I think one of the important lessons that I learned from reading this book is about the worth of all men in the eyes of our Creator.  Isaac, the potter of Niederbipp, had a collection of flawed pottery that he felt was his most prized possession.  Each piece had something wrong with it.  It was either unintentionally created with a flaw or had become flawed with use.  Most people would just view it as a bunch of broken junk.  I think the potter cherished it in much the same way that Heavenly Father loves each of us, even though not a single one of us is perfect.  We all came with flaws or developed them by our own choices or the actions of others.  But in spite of it, he still loves us.

I watched The Tabernacle Choir and the Spoken Word this morning.  A few scenes from the new series, Granite Flats, was shown so I checked to see if I would be able to watch the episodes starting with the first one on BYU TV online streaming but couldn't access it.  I don't want to start in the middle of the series so will have to figure out how to watch that another time.

I picked up the book again that Heidi gave me for Christmas, For Times of Trouble by Elder Holland.  Each time I pick it up it seems that the particular verses in Psalms are just what I needed that day.  Today, I picked it up and read "I am like a broken vessel" (Psalms 31:12).  "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." (Psalms 51:17) 

Elder Holland says "Sometimes the events of life can damage our highest hopes and dreams.  Some of our sweetest possessions and most cherished ideals end up being bruised, and sometimes they are broken….We are certain that as with Humpty Dumpty all the king's horses and all the king's men will never be able to put us together again.  But someone wrote once that God apparently loves—and turns to our benefit—broken things.  It takes broken clouds to nourish the earth, it takes broken earth to grow grain, it takes broken grain to make bread, it takes broken bread to nourish us, and so are the cycles of life..." 

We are still required to sacrifice, but not in the same way that the children of Israel sacrificed. 

"…we were commanded to offer newer symbols of Christ's Atonement:  "Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit."

   "It may be that among all the broken things God loves, He loves a broken heart most of all…Know that God will accept your offering and that, through the great miracle of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He will give your heart back to you healed and whole.  That is the ultimate truth taught by the Resurrection.  Christ, the Great Healer, will make recompense for us in time and in eternity.  By His grace and the goodness of God, all broken vessels are fully repaired."  (Jeffrey Holland For Times of Trouble, p 69-70.)