Keep Commitments

A brief follow-up to the last post.  It's not much to boast about but I can report that, so far, I have been disciplined in following my foot exercises. Are they making much difference to the pain? Well, not as much as I hoped but I have a long way to complete 12 weeks.  And the exercise plan emphasizes that I must not give up even when I feel better.

Yesterday, I saw the lady at church who first uttered the words Plantar fasciitis.  I told her that I too was suffering and had been given this action plan of exercises.  'Oh', she pulled a face. 'They're awful!'  'Like the one where you have to stand on tiptoe on a step and then lower your heel to the floor,' I replied, grateful for a fellow pilgrim along the way. ' Oh, I'm afraid I haven't done much of that stuff!' she said. 'I am just hoping that it will get better eventually.  I think it is!' 

So not a fellow pilgrim!  Part of me is not surprised she's given up because I have known several people who found the sheer slog of following physio exercises is not much fun.  And it really isn't!  It's also true that maintaining a pattern of discipline when there's little evidence of improvement demands real effort of will.

I was amused by a connection this makes with the next home group Bible study I am leading.  It's called 'Keep Commitments'.  In the study booklet leaders are told to begin the session by asking group members to name different commitments in their lives. Like: marriage vows, projects, appointment, bill-paying, due dates, getting to work on time, promises to children.  Encouraging a wide range of commitments, with some of them light-hearted, is intended to prod the group's thinking about the wide array of commitments in normal life and the way we handle these. In fact, group members should name commitments that are not named by anyone else in the group.

I shall name my plantar fasciitis exercises!  I think I shall be the only person with that commitment.  But I guess it will be a surprise to discover that the Scripture chosen for this study is Hosea 1:1-2:1,3.  Really? Next time.