Yesterday, after months of getting around in a wheelchair or walking around with a four-legged walker, my brother stood up and walked on his own two legs again.
Make that on one old leg and his "new leg".
My brother couldn’t get his prosthetic leg earlier owing to the fact that he had to be very careful – another wound might cause more trouble for him. Since his amputation in September last year, I had the honor of driving my brother to church almost every weekend. As he sat beside me in his wheelchair, I could feel the pain that he held back at not being able to walk around freely as he used to.
But I tell you: Yesterday, I had to swallow hard and hold back my tears.
Once his new leg was strapped on, he stood up and made his way to the parallel bars to take his “first few steps”. I whipped out a little surprise I had for him: a brand new brass-colored alloy cane. “Ang sarap tumayo!” ("It feels good to stand up!") he said, a huge grin occupying all of his face.
“You’ll need this”, I said with a smile. He smiled back – and then let go of the parallel bars to walk unassisted for the first time in months.
I laughed and said “I hope I can get my money back for this – you’re not going to need it after all”.
It was indeed a miracle. No, my brother’s foot did not grow back (now that would have been a miracle).
The miracle was how life suddenly and immediately flowed back into my brother’s face.
The Lord does this to us. It is called pruning. Some of us are pruned more than others.
And then there are those who are literally pruned.
My brother was one of those.
Any gardener would know this: pruning is done to remove any excess branches that may be taking the nutrients away from where it is needed the most. The Lord prunes Christians to take away the baggage that keeps us away from the source of our nutrients: the Lord himself.
My brother has always been(and still is) a stubborn person. He has a tendency to “close out the whole world”. His pruning made him more reliant on others – and on God even more. Now he speaks more about how God has changed his life through the loss of a limb. His pruning was painful, but it has completed him in the manner that God has chosen. He was forced to be more open to others – to us, his siblings. And he has come to realize that he must live in communion with all of us for him to feel the fullness of life.
Now: "what happens after a tree is pruned?"
Life nutrients flow where it is needed the most.
Just as life flowed back into my brother as he took his “first few steps”.
(I would like to express my gratitude to SGG Orthocare, owned by Paul and Glaze Sta. Maria (http://sulit.com.ph/3322927). You gave my brother a reason to literally “walk on”.)
