Grounded for life

Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.  - Job 4:4                  

It was an uncomfortable situation. As I exited through the back door, my foot slipped, and I found myself hit

the concrete hard. And I mean hard. Face first. I looked up to the worried face of my eldest son. Before he could even reach down to help, sheer panic hit as my mind screamed inside my head. "Get up! Don't let him see you down!"

I somehow moved upward, faster than the soon to be bruised 53 year old body really wanted to in fact. As we pulled out of the driveway, I made a quick assessment of the damages. Scraped arm, skinned knuckles, and what was sure to become a very sore and bruised body. My assessment later proved correct.

A few days afterwards, I reflected on that almost stopped breath panic thought. Good grief, Teena. What was the big deal? It was dark, you missed the narrow step, several people have fallen off that porch step. But it wasn't just the being down on the ground that was the true issue.  It was really about the fact  that I didn't want my ex husband to see me down. You see, he was in the house behind me. I needed to be up, not laying there flat on the ground.

Down.

downward. slumping. sinking. depressed. groundward. leveled.

I had worked so hard to rise above this status. How many times have I pushed and prodded myself out of this downward thinking in the past few years? Aspects of a failed marriage can push a mind into thinking self defeating thoughts. 

My daughter gave me a little bear once that holds a star in his hands. The star is embroidered with gold letters that read, "when things look down, look up."

Thank God!

Literally.

And then I realized something. Sometimes, when you are on the ground, you are in the perfect positon.... to pray.

It is a humbled position. From this vantage point, we can look upwards and see things so much more clearly.

Thank God!

Literally.

I look up from my humbled spot. I brush away those negative cobwebs.

I am a survivor, I shout!

I can do it! (and my arm muscles up just like the old "we can do it!" war poster girl.)

I plant my feet to the ground and know where my strength comes from.

I am grounded.... for life.

Life goes on.

Thank God!

Literally.