Jesus asks a sick man the question “Do you want to be well?” before healing him.
I always thought it was a bit of a silly question, of course he wants to be well…right? But recently the meaning of the question has changed for me. Instead of asking permission about whether the man wants to be healed or not, I think he might be asking him to remember life, before he was unwell.
In my personal experience of my little broken bone this year, I discovered that it’s very easy to get stuck inside the day to day “sickness”. It’s hard to remember that life wasn’t always like this. Sure there’s time when I pick up a power tool….or at least attempt to pick up a tool & fail, and I remember back to a time when I was full of health. But mostly, I feel I just adapt in this “new life”, in some ways it’s a “sub par” version of my old life physically.
Do I want to get well? Yes. But often I forget that returning to that life is an option, as the present reality and situation says otherwise.
The good news is that the Physio believes I’m on track for health. Hurray! There’s just a bunch of work to do between now & then.
[update]
Since writing the start of this post, I’ve been dwelling on the idea of what other ways have I got “stuck” in without realising it.
Do I want a clean house? Yes I do. My BS excuse around the lounge room is “that is where the heater is & therefore it make sense to put the clothes horse there”, which in turn blocks up the traffic flow. For some reason my personal pet hate is washing everywhere. I think that, that stems from my childhood, having to constantly keep a family of 4s washing done & clean & the inability for anything to dry outside 8 months of the year.