Meniscal tear ~ Timely Reconciliation

It has been 2 months since I underwent a partial meniscectomy to fix my knee. I’m now able to run, rock climb, and even dance in my kitchen while I cook dinner! The surgeon told me to expect a full recovery at 8 weeks. Yet, after having completed a regimen of physical therapy sessions, I still experienced pain and swelling. I was eager to bring this up with my surgeon at our final post-op appointment. At that meeting I told him I was confused about why my recovery was taking so long. I explained that I’m very dedicated, in fact I was asked to do less exercise because I was overdoing it in an attempt to rehabilitate the knee. My doctor explained that my problem wasn’t a lack of dedication, but the fact that I’d lived with my injury for so long. I was injured four years ago in New Zealand. At that time, I was a foreign student in grad school. As I was without a lot of extra cash or insurance, surgery had to wait. My doctor explained that the tear was one of the most complicated he had ever seen, and I didn’t do myself any favors by living with it for so long. Had I gone in for a fix immediately, the recovery time would have been much quicker.

When we live with wounds for a long time, it takes longer to heal. Is this perhaps also true in a spiritual sense? The Bible asks us to take our souls in for surgery the moment we realize there’s a problem. Ephesians 4v26 tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger. Similarly, Psalm 95v6&7 encourages us with these words: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” Jesus told his disciples that if they came to the temple to offer a gift, and remembered that someone had something against them, they should leave their gift right there at the altar and not come back until they were reconciled with that person (Matthew 5v23&24).

I find it interesting that the Bible uses this language. There’s a sense of not leaving things the way they are, but of making things right in a timely manner. I am reminded of the times I held a grudge against someone, and how much longer it took to repair that relationship than if I’d gone to the person immediately upon realizing there was a problem. Why do we leave such important things until later? In my own heart I see fear of making the problem worse by going to the person. But if I truly valued the relationships God has given me, I would take them seriously enough to address the torn places. If I truly loved the people I think I love, why would I not seek healing and restoration? No, I think the problem goes deeper. It goes all the way back to how I see God. In all honesty, I don’t trust God with the friendships He has blessed me with. I trust Jesus to be the mediator between myself and the Father, but I don’t trust Him to be the mediator between myself and my friends, coworkers, family members, etc. Frankly, it’s ridiculous when you think about it. The same God who shaped my heart, the same God who shaped the hearts of those I love, holds the universe in His hands. He upholds and sustains everything in creation. He who put it together knows how to fix it. He has a surgeon’s delicate precision, the understanding of a designer, and the love of a Father. We can trust Him with any wound, and with any broken relationship. There is no tear He cannot heal.

“Restore us, O God; make Your face shine on us, that we may be saved.”