I took a pretty significant fall on Monday while I was weeding in my Mary garden. I'm still not sure how I did it. I was turning to put some clover in the bucket and lost my balance. I came down on my right arm scraping it up against the top of the wall. Then I hit my left leg on the wall as I went over and landed flat on my back on the brick pool deck. Quite a thud!
My husband who was working on the pool saw me falling and tried to get over in time to keep me from going over the wall. No luck. Then he stood over me asking if he should call 911. "No," I said. "Just let me lie here for a minute and decide whether I did any serious damage." I was shook up but rolled onto my side after about five minutes, pushed myself up, and collapsed in a chair while he went to get me a drink of water. Lots of bruises and aches, but a few days of going easy and I'm mending.
I still have some pain, although I'm pretty much doing my normal routine chores and even got back on the horse yesterday, i.e. I climbed up into the garden again to plant some flowers in front of Our Lady. I confess I was a little nervous, but all went well.
This morning, though, when I got out of bed my entire body hurt. On top of that I was deep in the doldrums. My morning prayer time was difficult. I wanted to chuck everything, crawl back in bed, and pull the covers over my head. "Stop the world; I want to get off!"
Having been on a yearly Ignatian Retreat for the past twenty years, I recognized what was happening, and put the strategy to practice during desolation into effect. Stay the course! If you usually spend twenty minutes in prayer, don't shorten it; add a few minutes. I said my morning prayers, prayed the Mass, and added a few extra readings from Butler's Lives of the Saints.
Yesterday I started a novena to Padre Pio and I wonder if that aroused the prowling lion. Well...if he's going to try to devour me, he will find me at prayer. I'm adding an extra afternoon session with my novena and my Bible, and thanking God and my guardian angel that I wasn't seriously hurt in the fall. But, honestly, I'd rather be the good Samaritan than the wounded Jew.
Meanwhile, I'm praying for everyone who's having a bad day. They creep up on all of us in this valley of tears. I also know a few people who have plenty of reasons to be depressed and am praying especially for them. Never let a suffering, no matter how small, go to waste. And here's my Mary garden with the kelanchoe. Our Lady, Lily of the Valley and Mystical Rose, pray for us.
I had a similar experience both yesterday and today. Freak accidents that could have been disastrous, except for a matter of a literal “ in one case, getting purchase with my hand on no a shelf on the way down in a huge fall in another.
ReplyDeleteSo I sympathize with you. Things can change in a moment. Which gives extra urgency and poignancy to our prayers in times of peace, I think. God bless you. Thank God you are ok.
MAK:
ReplyDeleteMy Boss (aka wife) is also preparing two outdoor shrines for Our Lady. She hopes to have a crowning soon as it is also Our Lady's month.
Tomorrow, God willing, I hope to take the family on pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette during which we will remember your intentions and give thanks that you were not hurt badly.
God bless
Richard W Comerford
Yes me too; my foot got caught in the handle of a bag and I fell, very hard, on my kitchen floor, a week ago. I, too, just settled there for a few minutes. I am badly bruised and it was upon my bad knee that took the direct hit. I am 70 and I was back at work a day later thanks be to God.
ReplyDeleteMy mother, who lived to 95, used to "reassure" me: don't worry honey any illness or ache will end and a new one will appear ! So true.
God bless you Mary Ann. Said a prayer for healing mercies for you. Thank you for sharing your trials as well as your blessings. Love the Mary Garden.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the prayers. I pray for all of you as well and am so grateful for the friends I may only meet in heaven. God bless you all.
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