Strengthen the Feeble Knees

By Christine Thackeray



This weekend we had a huge garage sale sponsored by the YW and YM in our ward to help pay for camp. In the past they have done a simple auction of service, most never performed, that was more like a hand-out than anything else. As YW's president I felt we needed a venue for some of these children to really earn their camp experience through hard work. We did a neighborhood pickup and filled our three-car garage to the ceiling. For the three days before the actual even we sorted, brought over load after load, priced and displayed. It was a gift to watch three of our young girls come day after day, more willing and helpful than I'd ever seen them and after the sale was over, we earned our goal and then some.

The only problem is that I have arthritis in my knees and had really over-done it. I knew I was sore but had to play catch up for the next three days, doing all the things I had put off during the garage sale event. Needless to say, when I woke up this morning, my knees were done. One had actually swollen so large that it could compete with an imposing water balloon.

When this happens, which isn't often, there is nothing to be done but to put up my legs for three stinking days until they can recover. I hate it, but there is no working through it- I just need to stop.

It is interesting how some issues we can just muscle our way through. If we ignore them, they go away and we find we are further up the path and life is good. Some temptations are this way, many of our moods and the complaints of our children aren't worthy of our focus and even some physical pain will simply heal on its own if we just keep doing the things we know that are right and keep moving forward.

But every once in a while, problems don't go away like that and priorities must be shifted. Our lives need to adjust to help "strengthen the feeble knees and the hands that hang down"- but the hardest time to do that is when those knees and hands are our own.

Luckily, my fourth son had a sinus infection and is home for the day. He graciously served me a Belgian Waffle for breakfast and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. I've been able to review a fascinating manuscript that I had promised to look at for a friend but hadn't had an extra second to face and hope to finish a few chapters in my latest work in progress. It's all good- just terribly inconvenient.