On Monday when I woke up it seemed that something horrible had happened to my left hand, it was swollen, red and with a protuberance that did not know where it came from. In addition to the aspect, it was accompanied by an intense pain that prevented me from moving it and even extending my arm. Tuesday was worse, Wednesday was even worse and on Thursday it was unbearable. When I went to the doctor I was immediately scandalized when I saw the swelling, I took x-rays and the bone was in perfect condition, the diagnosis was clear: tendinitis and a possible synovial cyst. The instructions were also clear: ABSOLUTE rest, immobilization of the wrist, kinesiotherapy and medication.
The hardest thing of all has been not being able to do things by myself, from dressing up to preparing something to eat, for everything I need help and when I try to do something alone, I end up doing a mess or throwing everything on the floor, accompanied by course of a lot of helplessness and then of a tragi-comic laugh because of the situation.
I think that this situation is not so distant from our Christian reality, we all have at some point had an immobilized arm for some reason, maybe we were waiting for an answer that was delayed, or maybe we were living in an extreme family situation, or the disease of a loved one, I do not know ... but we experience the feeling that we lack an arm, we lack support to achieve it and when we try to do something, we only spoil the situation by making everything even more tense or sad. Having this arm immobilized fills you with impotence, discomfort, pain.
After my going to the doctor my hand and wrist continued in the same way, the pain decreased a little and the swelling also, but the discomfort and immobility persisted. However, on Friday when I had lunch, I saw my plate and all the food was chopped, I came and I ate it. Who had it been? My mother. Understanding my pain and discomfort, I cut everything that I would need to cut without asking myself before, to facilitate my feeding and to cooperate. And so it has been all these days, my mother and sister have helped me to dress, shower, prepare my meals, prepare my bags, everything that I myself have not been able to do.
So it is also with God, it is His arms that appear in the best and worst scenes of our life, those in which we think there is nothing else we can do, that no matter how hard we try to accomplish something, everything turns out badly. God is there, with His hands available to fix your disasters, to get you ahead. Do not be stubborn like me, instead of leaving my arm immobile, it occurs to me until I go to a missionary camp for a week, let Him be transformed into your arms, into your hands and that everything that touches transforms it into a blessing, for you and for others.
