A reflection on my first week in recovery after hip surgery.
I'm still really tired and looking forward to being bored doing very little, but it's not happening yet. I am getting to listen to and reflect on my own body as it goes crazy with a lump of metal arriving last week. As I feel the pain come and go I have begun to think of my hip as a building site and all the repair work going on there, removing dead tissue, growing new stuff and closing the gaps between the incisions. It means that I end up grateful for the pain and the wonder of a body that repairs and works with me to get back to normal.
When I am more awake I also feel that I am caught up really intimately in the process of the Paschal Mystery. When I say intimately, I mean at the cellular level and with the energy that includes acceptance of the destruction of bone and muscle in the same way as it accepts the growth of new bone and tissue. It helps that I can see the Easter story working through but also astounding how deeply it is entwined into my existence. This Easter presence feels more immediate to me than any sacrament I can remember, it is as if my body is speaking to me clearly and I am listening, perhaps for the first time, in a real partnership experience. Cross and resurrection entwine and and at times seem indistinguishable. These thoughts seem to me more important than the improved mobility that is likely to emerge. It's a real gift, the whole package of pain and healing.
