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For the past three weeks I’ve been sporting an air cast walking boot due to a stress fracture in my foot. It’s cumbersome, heavy, and not the least bit fashionable. It has abruptly halted my running and limited my ability to drive. All in all, an inconvenience to say the least.
Prior to this injury, I didn’t know what a stress fracture was. In my case, it didn’t show up on an X-ray, hasn’t required surgery, yet, is painful as hell when I try to put any direct pressure on my foot. I’ve since learned that stress fractures are tiny cracks in the bone often caused by repetitive force or overuse — such as repeatedly jumping up and down or running long distances. (www.mayoclinic.org)
Just like a stress fracture in a bone, there can be tiny cracks found in other areas of our lives as well:
Parenting – For years I’ve said the same thing or reacted in the same way repeatedly always expecting a different outcome or reaction but was left, instead, with tiny cracks in a flawed parenting style.
Marriage – Going through the day-to-day business of running a household together can get monotonous and instead of being fulfilling, create tiny cracks if not well monitored.
Work – For some, ‘stress’ and ‘work’ are synonymous, going through the motions to simply get a headache and paycheck at the end of the week, or the constant worry of uncertain employment.
Relationships – Maybe it’s your BFF or a close family member that has become distant or indifferent, over a harsh word, heated disagreement, or misunderstanding that has left tiny cracks in what was once solid.
When we truly pause to examine the tiny cracks in our lives, it can be disheartening because we don’t know how they got there. It’s as if they showed up overnight. And now, all the cracks we carry are indeed heavy, cumbersome and impedes our ability to joyfully navigate life.
The Hope Filter
How fitting then, that the first candle we light during this season of Advent represents Hope.
Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas celebrated in most Christian churches, is a season of anticipation and preparation. Each Sunday a different candle is lit representing how the birth of Jesus, the light of the world, has overcome darkness.
There is such anticipation for Christmas, particularly with children, that the weeks leading up to it can be frustrating and feel like forever. We just want Christmas to come NOW, because we know the joy we’ll experience Christmas morning.
But Advent intentionally slows us down, so we can pause, reflect, breathe, pray, and prepare. And as much as I want the stress fracture in my foot and any other tiny cracks in my life to just be healed already, I’m finding time to pause, reflect, breathe, pray and prepare.
This week, during the first week of Advent, I am reminded, that despite the tiny cracks that have penetrated multiple areas of my life, because of the light of Jesus, Hope has found its way through.
