“THE RENEWING OF OUR MINDS ”

            

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)