Splint or Crutches?

"Dad," Vince asked me.  "Which do you like better, your splint or, your crutches?"

It wasn't an easy question to answer. 

I was lying on a bed in a hotel room with my leg propped up and a stirrup splint strapped to my swollen ankle and crutches beside the bed.  I wasn't grateful for anything in this picture.  In fact, I was upset at how a sprained ankle was going to spoil a family reunion for me.

As I battled self pity, I remembered a verse from Phillipians.  "Rejoice in the Lord always..."  I wondered how that applied to my situation.  What was the good thing that I could rejoice about?

It has been my tendency to try to figure out the good things that come about because of the suffering I experience.  The traffic accident I avoided because I was running late.  The lessons that I learned because of the difficulties I faced.

But the command is not to try figure out how having a sprained ankle will help me grow, or develop character or, benefit me in some tangible way.  The command is to rejoice.

I never did figure out a reason why I sprained my ankle playing Ultimate Frisbee or, why the elevators weren't working in our hotel and I had to maneuver my way up and down eight flights of steps with an ankle the size of a softball, but that doesn't matter.

My son Vince was right.  I need to have joy in the presence of pain and splints and crutches -- not because I like them, but because I serve a great God.

He's enough for every situation I face.