A Little Walnut and A Great Big Fall

Yesterday I went hiking with my daughter, Charlie, and my dog, Nyx. It was a gorgeous day after lots of windy, cold, and rainy days.

It is a beautiful park with many nature trails. About a mile into our walk, along the creek, I rolled my ankle, and in the slowest of slow motion, I hit the ground. It was so slow you’d think I could have stopped it.

Charlie yells, “Mommmmm! Are you okay?!”

I’m laughing. Lying on my back, I answer, “Yes.”

She asks what I tripped on. I said it was a tree root. She glances back. “Mom, it was a walnut.”

“I’m sure it was a root!”

“No, Mom, it was a walnut!”

“A walnut?! Are you kidding me? Don’t tell anyone it was a walnut!!”

How embarrassing.

I’m still lying on the ground with my left foot in the air. She started recording this. I’m laughing hard. She is too. She asked what did I want her to do with that foot in the air. I’m trying to tell her through the laughter to pull my foot. I know it needed to move. (My time as a chiropractor’s wife is about to pay off.) She is still laughing so hard. And I can barely talk. She stops recording so she can straighten my ankle. She pulled and it popped. Instant relief.

I wasn’t making any attempt to get up. I was doing a internal scan of myself to see what else might be an issue. My right palm hurt bad from all the rocks that left indentations.

Charlie says, “Someone is coming, Mom!”

Oh, great….a jogger. How embarrassing. My first thought was that I used to be a runner now I’m an old lady lying on the pathway.

I needed to get up. I did, but I was filthy! I had on a pink sweatshirt. I usually wear a dark, but, oh…not today. Since the ground still held some of the dampness from the last several days, trail remains were plastered to my backside, from head to toe.

As we continued on our walk different parts of my person began to hurt. Right elbow. Leg, just below my right knee. Left shoulder. Of course, my left ankle. Oh, and that problematic lumbar disc. Yay. Good times.

In bed, I feel like….well, I don’t know what I feel like. Too many parts hurt. Run over by a truck or hit by a train, or something . Not to mention the black eye I gave myself the night before last. Yeah. Don’t ask. It’s been a weekend. I think I’ll be safer at work. Oh, that’s right. I’m taking ME with me.

The fall took place about a little over a mile into our walk so we had a long ways to go to get back to the car. This trail is over 3.5 miles. Still it was a lovely day, fall and all.

As we walked, I would think of things to write about. Future posts. That part of my brain doesn’t sleep. At all. But I thought of one. This one.

I related my fall to Christianity. One small step toward sin, a step so small that we barely even recognize it, and before we know it, we are falling, falling, falling. When we get to a certain point we cannot stop ourselves from hitting the ground. And as we are lying there in a heap, we wonder how did we not see this coming.

Often it takes just one tiny seed to be planted in our thoughts. We cultivate it by being curious. One thing leads to another and soon we find ourselves in a bad situation. Trusts broken, lies told, stealing, cheating, an addiction granted, unfaithfulness, etc., etc., etc.

Who knew one little walnut, or one tiny thought, could lead to such a great fall. Not great as in something amazing. Great as in huge, painful, life-changing, debilitating. That’s what sin does.

As I still lie here in bed, not wanting to move, my final thought is that we need to be very careful about what is on the path in front of us. While I’d like to pretend that something big caused my fall, truth is, it was very small. And it caught me off-guard.

Just as in our walk through life, we need to cautious about what we think about, where we walk, and what we put before our eyes.

So as we begin a new week, let’s be cautious in our walk. Our physical walk and most importantly, our spiritual walk. ♥️

Andi