This was the text I sent my niece in the middle of the night, not long after my mom passed away last year:
“I can’t yell it at Nana, so I will yell it at you! LEG CRAMP! LEG CRAMP!! LEG CRAMP!!! From the middle of my hamstring all the way down to curling my toes!”
I’m sure she didn’t see it until the next morning, but I had to tell someone.
Leg cramps were something Mom and I dealt with randomly throughout the years. It wasn’t unusual for one of us to yell out to the other in the middle of the night, “Leg cramp!”
First came the grabbing of the offending muscle. Then the grunting and groaning.
The yelling usually followed the initial hard-fought battle of getting free from the covers. Because, of course, by that point, the covers were wrapped around us multiple times.
Once we finally made it out of bed, the dancing would begin. We would dance from the bedroom, through the hallway, and sometimes all the way to the other end of the house. Dancing, jumping, hopping, and hollering!
We would generally follow that up with a glass of orange juice or a banana, whichever was available. I’ve even resorted to eating salt when neither was an option.
Sometimes the cramps were so bad that, even after massaging them out, the muscles would remain sore for a day or two.
And then there was that one time when BOTH of Mom’s legs were sore for days.
She was directing a wedding for a friend’s daughter. It was a formal occasion, and she wanted to look especially nice. She bought a new dress and a pair of heels (slides) to coordinate with the wedding colors.
Mom was on her feet all day, making sure everything went smoothly. The day began with pre-wedding preparations, continued through the ceremony and pictures, and lasted all the way to the end of the reception.
Did I mention that Mom’s new shoes were just a little too big for her?
Since they were open-backed, she had to deliberately hold them on her feet all day to keep from walking right out of them.
Can you see where I’m going with this?
By the end of the day, she was pretty much done with those shoes. Her feet and calves were incredibly sore from spending hours holding them on her feet.
Sometime during the night, she was yelling for me to come to her.
When I got there, she was writhing in pain and couldn’t get out of bed. Both legs, from her thighs all the way to her toes, were cramping up. She couldn’t stand.
Dad and I both went to work trying to massage the cramps out of her feet and legs. She finally managed to get to her feet, but it took quite a bit of “dancing” before things settled down.
Her legs were sore for days afterward.
Days!
DAYS!
Bless her heart, as mean as it was, Dad and I couldn’t help but laugh.
The crazy part? The wedding venue was only five minutes from home. She could have had someone run to the house and get her another pair of shoes!
It was a bad decision to suffer through those color-coordinated heels all day when relief was just a few minutes away.
Isn’t that what we do sometimes?
We recognize that something isn’t working out quite right. We even have the means to make a change, but we just don’t take the necessary steps.
Why?
Maybe it’s inconvenient. Maybe we’re in a hurry. Or maybe it’s simply because “that’s the way we’re going to do it.”
We don’t always make the wisest choices, even when wisdom is readily available to us.
The Bible has a lot to say about wisdom and making wise choices. It teaches us how to seek it, how to obtain it, how to use it, and how to share it. It also reminds us just how blessed we are when we find it.
“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.” Proverbs 3:13-14 (NIV)
I believe, as these verses tell us, that the riches of wisdom are worth far more than earthly possessions or financial gain.
God’s Word is my greatest source of wisdom for navigating this thing called life.
It directs me to seek wisdom (James 1:5). It teaches me how to obtain it (Proverbs 2:1-22). It reminds me to live with godly sincerity (2 Corinthians 1:12). And it encourages me to let the Word of Christ dwell richly within me as I teach and encourage others with wisdom (Colossians 3:16).
Common sense tells me that wisdom is something we should all desire, both in our spiritual and everyday lives.
After all, nearly every decision we make requires some degree of wisdom, from the first step out of bed to the complexities of navigating our day.
I hope I will always seek spiritual wisdom first and above all else.
Let wisdom be your guide as you make the choices that shape your life.
And perhaps most importantly, don’t let a little stubbornness leave you writhing in pain when a better choice is only five minutes away!
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