Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Mowing grass in December

Monday, December 11, 2017

From Isaiah 35
The desert and the parched land will exult; they will bloom with abundant flowers. Strengthen hands that are feeble, make firm knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened, "Be strong, fear not!"

A week ago, I mowed the grass. How can this be? It's December, and the frosts will come and the snows will cover the earth, and we will begin our hibernation. But not so fast ...

I could not have done that mowing a week earlier. On the day before my birthday in mid-November, the surgeon repaired three hernias in my tummy. Although the laparoscopic incisions were small, the work inside me was much more massive. And I've been sore!

Do you know what they do after you get put to sleep? First, they pump my insides full of carbon dioxide, so there's room in there to see stuff. Then the table I'm on is tipped about 30 degrees, head down, so my intestines kind of slide out of the way so they can see even better. The camera goes in via my belly button.

Maybe a devotion is not the best place for me to describe this.

I know I'm not quite ready to see a YouTube video of this miracle of modern surgery. It's done with a robot in the hands of a general surgeon. Each hernia takes about 90 minutes to repair, so I was asleep just about as long as Margaret was asleep for her open-heart aortic valve replacement a few months ago.

Aren't we just a pair? We take turns so one of us can pick things up off the floor (Margaret: no more than 10 pounds for 8 weeks, Dave: no more than 20 pounds for six weeks). But perhaps now there will be a respite, and by January we'll be picking things up together.

Of course the main picking up we both want to do is of our grandkids, at least those who want to be picked up. Mostly that means Miles, who is 13 months old today. We'll be with him in Austin for Christmas and New Year's Day. In the videos we've seen he is bubbling with verbal and muscular joy. Life is so good for him. He's in love. We are too. We can't wait.

The Hippocratic Oath, "Do no harm," is enhanced by the words of Isaiah: "Strengthen hands that are feeble, make firm knees that are weak." And above all say to those whose hearts are frightened, "Be strong, fear not!"

Daily miracles abound in hospitals around the world. We don't live forever, and many of us cannot get to a hospital when it is needed. I think of the healing touch of Jesus, needed by so many, felt by so few. And even those few ... also died in time. Those miracles, like mine, were of the moment, full of grace, convincing us of God's love.

God's words echo in my soul, "Be strong, fear not!" Shakespeare echoes too, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Does Hamlet know how completely he's covered by God's love? Do I?

O yes, Lord, my fear rises up again. But I can begin to let the problems that I see replace the terrors that I imagine. This all belongs to you, my Father, all my healing, all my pain. This train is bound for glory, this train.

Devotions Archive

Mowing grass in December

Monday, December 11, 2017