Even the untrained eye can see something's not quite right with this MRI of my spine. I ruptured a disc. Don't ask me how, I don't really know. The most honest answer is I've been carrying around too much for too long without adequate rest.
I've spent the last week laying in bed strengthening my patience.
From the moment we started to dream about buying this house we felt it deserved a name. Before we lived here we considered the Villa Loco. It seemed such a crazy dream and a crazy house and admittedly our life is plenty crazy. But as soon as we moved in--we knew that name wasn't right. There's a peacefulness about our home and our yard--a sense of enchantment. In the morning and the evening the fog rolls in and sometimes it looks like the whole yard is floating in clouds. I toyed with names involving dragons since we have an abundance of dragon fruit: Dragon Head, Dragon Orchard, Dragon Dreams. I suggested the more prosaic Pomegranate Point or Persimmon Point. Every suggestion was shot down until I suggested: Paciencia. The Spanish word for patience.
So much requires patience. It will take many years before this house and yard reach their potential. The same can be said of my children and myself. All the fruit bearing trees in the yard are tokens of patience. You must wait many months, sometimes years for good things to bear fruit.
Naming my house--even in my own head--has brought me some comfort. I like to think when I come home and enter our front courtyard--that I've entered a state of patience. Patience is an overlooked virtue. It seems like doing nothing, but it's not really, patience is about sustaining hope.
I also like what Neal A. Maxwell said:
"Patience is a willingness, in a sense to watch the unfolding purposes of God with a sense of wonder and awe--rather than pacing up and down in the cell of our circumstances."
My sister and brother are coming in town for Thanksgiving today. I'm flat on my back while my dad cleans the guest bathroom. It so happens that this all falls during one of Bill's busiest weeks at work. Sometimes in life all we can do is be patient.
16 comments:
Sorry to hear about your back,Ruth! Both of my parents have had lots of back troubles and not much can get you down like a back. I like how you described having to lay down a lot to help recover as an exercise in patience. It's so hard sometimes to not be able to touch the "to do" list or know that someone else is covering jobs you normally tackle. I hope you still have a great Thanksgiving and are on the road to a quick recovery. :)
Beautifully said. So sorry about your back! Hope that you recover very soon.
Okay, I'm feeling really, really dumb because I'm looking at your MRI and I can't tell which disc is ruptured. The very best wishes for a speedy recovery and competent medical care.
Just to make you laugh: Drue and Maggie sent Sophie Wuthering Heights for her birthday and its cover design looks like Twilight. So, so funny. Sophie dove right in-- I still won't let her read Twilight so I guess this is consolation.
Becky, It's the bottom disc almost in line with the time 11:46. Hope that helps. Lizzy recently checked out Wuthering Heights from the library and it had such a ridiculous Harlequin-esque cover that she was embarrassed to take it any where.
I was going to write something sarcastic and completely "Lara" but opted instead to say- I'm so sorry. I'm glad your dad is in town to help.
Hope you feel better soon.
Love the name of the new place. It is quite perfect for your little families view on life.
That does not look fun! I hope you feel better soon. Wish I was close enough to take the bathroom cleaning duties off your Dad's hands (you know I would!). Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I'm sorry about your back. I remember being on bedrest during pregnancy. It's hard to be still when so much work is calling you.
I love the name for your home. I need to come up with something for mine, but I can't imagine anything as beautifully simple.
Our Stake President gave a beautiful talk this week about patience, and the link between it and hope in Romans 5:4. Some highlights:
-The path to hope passes through experience, and requires patience.
-Experience in that verse has also been translated as character. To develop character requires patience.
-Conversion is not the commitment to begin something, but to finish it. Patience is what gets me from the decision to start all the way to the end.
-If I want to know how converted I am to a gospel principle, ask myself how patient I am with that principle.
-The people I love the most are those who have been patient with me, including the Savior.
You are in our prayers.
Brandan
I love you, Ruth. Imperfect back, and all.
That was absolutely beautiful Ruth. You can't imagine how much I needed to read every word you wrote. Thank you sweet friend. You are in my prayers and I am so grateful for you. With love, L.
My sweet friend, thank you for this post on this day at this moment.
I'd all but lost mine...my hope I mean.
Thank you. You didn't even know and yet you wrote this to me today. Thank you sweet friend.
I love this Ruth.
We had a beautiful week, didn't we?
Oh Ruth, I hope that you can find some relief from the pain...and SOON! Your family is so lucky to have such a wonderful woman for the Lady of Paciencia. I wish we were closer. But the home sounds dreamy and I hope that it continues to be a refuge from the storm -- for you and for your sweet family.
Love from Dallas.
Oh Ruth. I'm so sorry. I totally get it. It's painful in so many ways--not just physical. Heat it. Ice it. Shock it. Drug it. Walk it. Work it. Walk it. Walk it. And enjoy the rest :)
Oh. And bless it.
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