TOUCH: Muscle Relaxer

SO I went to my doctor yesterday and she told me that I should get a muscle relaxer. I told her I hate pills and I don't even take vitamins because I can't keep them down. It was only pride that kept me from asking if there were cherry flavored syrup muscle relaxers, because I'm good with liquids. Anyway, after much discussion she wrote me out two prescriptions and gave me the sample for one. I went about my day, worked late, then went home. After a while I decided to put on some music, get my journal, write out recent events in my life, and take the sample muscle relaxer. The rest is kind of a blur after that. Alison was there, then she wasn't, then she was talking to Amber, then it was quiet. At one point I thought Brad Pitt was marching his children who where (in my delusion) an Olympic Team (from what country??) through my kitchen. I can tell you for sure that much didn't happen.

Through this whole experience, I just wanted to be picked up and carried to bed, and tucked in and read to like I was when I was a little girl.

I hate that disoriented feeling. I hate not feeling connected to a given place. That is the take-home lesson of muscle relaxers. While I didn't feel any painful tightness in my shoulder or knee for those twelve hours, I also didn't feel connected to anyone. It is absolutely silly but the event of earlier in the day left me feeling kind of one minute you know where you are going to be in eight months, and in the next minute, you are immobilized on your sofa, waiting for someone to carry you to bed.

In the same way, it is true that many people isolate themselves from God and people that love them because all they see is rules. I believe that we were created to live in community with one another and God. That life isn't about rules and lists, but about truly learning how to be connected with each other and God. Why are so many people against chasing after God and healthy circles of friends? I don't see how trying to do life on your own terms, away from loved ones, and God-things (prayer, Bible reading, worship) are good for you.

The muscle relaxer has worn off by now, and I feel a bit of the pain of my injury, but I also feel more alert and able to speak coherent sentences. Carry that thought over to spiritual things, blows my mind a little.

HEARD: Do words calm your soul?

HEAR: WHAT CALMS YOUR SOUL?

So a few days ago I found my self seated in a circle of citizens from el barrio. There was one baby among them, but the majority of the people were older than I. I sat with a couple co-workers and in my lap was a book I had read countless times as I teenager. After a brief advertisement for an agency event, and an introduction I began to read. It was the story of a Mexican-American girl’s experiences in the inner city.

I’ve always loved reading. I remember how I used to hear the words of the Bible every night before bed. My father used to read to us out of an illustrated Bible. It was read so often that the binding came off and we had to use paper glue to re-bind the Bible. One night when my father read to us, I remember reading one of the words, and my father stopped, looked at us, and said that since I knew how to read, I would now have the privilege of reading the words of God for myself.

And I have. I don’t know what its like to not be able to read those words. Over the years I have found unbelievable comfort in the words of a prophet named Jeremiah in his book of Lamentations, courage in the book of Esther, and fortitude in the story of Jael and Deborah in the book of Judges. I’ve felt my soul soar when I encountered the poetry of the first chapter of John.

I know that most young people today are unfamiliar with the Bible. They think that being spiritual is nothing more than chanting a few foreign words, or reading a horoscope. They think they know all of the stories and so they don’t bother to open it. However so many today are unaware of the poetry contained in the Bible. They think they know everything simply because it is easily accessible to them. But the truth is, my generation and the ones following it, are more biblically ignorant than any generation that has lived on this earth. Scholars say that for all of our technology and speed, we are ignorant of the very words that give us life.

I know that when public schools were founded years ago, it was founded with the idea that people needed to be able to read and comprehend what they were reading. Their leadership wanted them to be able to read so that they might even read the words of the Bible and determine its truth for themselves. That the yeoman’s failure to read it, and willingness to follow leaders blindly has lead to wars all across the globe. For if people read the words written there, there would be more compassion and less contention.

I could go on and on and talk about the Bible ad nausea, but I think that even watching The Book of Eli or picking up an audio Bible would better serve you. I believe it to be the most important book ever put to paper. I love how it was the first book ever printed. There are many lesser books, and I get to read them to others often. I even wrote a book, a mystery, that people would be able to read soon. But I don’t think any story had the rhythm, the depth or the variety that the Bible has. As a single woman living in this post-modern era, I still get my inspiration and subsistence from the words of life carried down through generations.