WRESTLING WITH ANGELS [R, 6-12-25]

 BEYOND WINTER: The Irrelevant Complaints of An Old Man—WRESTLING WITH ANGELS [R, 6-12-25]

 

As a follow-up, sort of, to the column of 6-10…

The pain in my hip would not go away, so they sent me to Machaela. Well, they sent me to x-ray, but it was the congenial Machaela who did the work. I complained that I had done nothing to cause the pain in my hip—no fall, no slip, no nothing. It seemed unfair to me. She commiserated, but said that she is at age where she can hurt herself in her sleep, which she did. Went to bed feeling fine and woke up hurting. And she is only 47.

I considered asking her if she had been wrestling with an angel, but I thought she might misunderstand, especially if she had not read the 32^nd chapter of Genesis recently. That’s the chapter that has the story of Jacob and that angel. Like Machaela, Jacob got hurt in his sleep, wrestling with the angel. He limped rest of his life, as a reminder of that encounter.

Which makes me think that we need to do some work coordinating Bible stories about Jacob. We are climbing Jacob’s ladder… Not if you have a bad hip!

 

Okay, the ladder is a different story. That’s chapter 28. But I wanted to complain, about something, because my hip hurt. I couldn’t even walk without pain, let alone climb a ladder. It’s especially hard to climb a ladder if you’re using a cane.

And I did not want a reminder of whatever had caused the pain, the way Jacob’s limp reminded him of the angel, who probably got his wrestling training at the U of Iowa. [The Hawkeyes have 24 national championships in wrestling.]

 

As a wrestler, Jacob was a grinder. He couldn’t pin the angel, but the angel couldn’t pin him, either. Jacob just hung on. He wouldn’t let go. He kept at it all night, until the angel agreed to give him a blessing, which included the new name of Israel, which in part means “he has overcome.”

When Megan, my FNP, saw the x-rays Machaela had taken, she sent me to physical therapy, much to my disgust. PT is a lot of work. I wanted her to give me a pill or a shot and have it over with. No, I had to go wrestle twice a week with Nicholas, who was very nice but definitely not angelic in the way he treated my hip.

So, call me Israel, for I have overcome. My hip doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m not limping. I don’t need the cane. So I guess I can go back to climbing that ladder to heaven.

All together now: Every rung goes higher, higher…

 

John Robert McFarland