Lessons Learned on the Road-Treat Injury Immediately

If I asked you where you were eleven years ago today, you no doubt could tell me. Were you clustered around a television at work? Did you watch in horror on a mall screen? Did you feel incredibly small and lonely as you witnessed terror within the walls of a home that no longer seemed safe?

Six thirty am that morning I boarded a plane leaving from Atlanta to Chicago. As planes were striking towers, we were sailing above the clouds. Havoc unleashed its fury on our health and safety, my plane was listed among those unaccounted for and potentially taken over by terrorists.

We landed at O’Hare to the hush of horror. One of the world’s busiest airports had halted to ingest the impact of a new normal. My new normal had boarded the plane with me that morning. After 8 years of striving for love in a loveless marriage, I teetered on the brink of an emotional affair and the end of my marriage.

Out of the ashes of destruction, hope sprang into my heart. What could birth passion in a marriage more than the threat of losing your spouse? As I snaked in my rental car from Chicago to Chattanooga, my heart dared to dream. I let it wander around my insides with wishes of a romantic reunion.

My dream didn't come to pass. It blended into a nightmare of too little counseling too late and a divorce in August, 2002. I learned something through 9/11 I'm often reminded of when I run.

Don't let injuries fester.

My first husband was a perfect match for my people pleasing non-confrontational personality. We had an unspoken agreement to have as little friction in our marriage as possible. If we didn't talk about our problems, we didn't have to admit they existed.

When you injure yourself while running, your best chance for containing that injury is to treat it immediately. Injuries that fester because you just keep running, have a longer-term, more significant impact than those you deal with.

Injuries in relationship are the same. Let's not allow our relational hurts to fester. Instead, let's invite God into our pain and proceed with an immediate treatment plan which might include painful conversations and uncomfortable situations. But the pain we experience now will be far less than the pain waiting for us later.

Treat injury immediately and avoid the pain of long-term hurt.

What's your most recent injury? What would it take to just treat it now? What's keeping you from doing so?