New Year resolutions, according to my desk calendar,
go in one year and out the other. My resolutions were decided for me. Early in
December, Santa had presented me with a Tenchkoff catheter inserted into my
abdomen (hence my move from belts to braces) to enable me to drain out into one
bag and re-fill from a fresh one.
Mid-January saw me at the RNS Peritoneal Dialysis
(PD) unit undergoing intense one-on-one training from the nurses where I had to
learn 30 odd exacting steps on how to administer four bag exchanges every day,
first before breakfast, next before lunch, then before dinner, and last before
bed, each process taking about an hour. I am slowly but steadily learning how
to do this myself thanks to patient filial tutelage and to fit the rest of each
day around these constant processes.
So, my resolution is to learn how to manage this new
chapter in my life helped by breathing exercises and mindfulness in minimising
my anxiety and other stresses. Paul’s message to the Romans takes on new
meaning when he writes, “Be transformed
by the renewing of your mind”, or in other words, “Get out of your rut and
be groovy”. I’m sure we all have experiences of change along the way where we
have to take new directions outside our comfort zone and embark upon a steep
learning curve.
Thank God we belong to a community here at North Ryde
where we support one another in prayer and in many other unexpected ways. The
spirit here glows wherever we need that warmth in stressful times.
Lent is arriving again. Baby Jesus has not only grown
up to full maturity he is now about to “set
his face towards Jerusalem” where his near future will be dreadfully grim.
He does this because he knows our best interests far better than we do. Lent emerges
because Jesus gives up his life.
We cannot move forward without leaving behind us
anything that impedes our new priorities. Lent is the time when we focus on Jesus
and the way he set his own priorities with us in mind. We refresh our own
discipleship by auditing our own priorities in this light. Events happening in
our own lives often oblige this audit for us. Now is the time we can support
one another through such not always painless changes.
Let us continue our ongoing process of being
transformed by the renewing of our minds.
(P.S. This article is a little shorter because my
next PD transfer is now due)
