The Slippers: Walk Circumspectly by Petra Pierre-Robertson

...walk circumspectly... (Ephesians 5:15)

I was clearing the car to properly vacuum it when I found a pair of slippers under the seat. It was a timely find since one of my slippers was damaged. I realised that one side of the slipper I found was also damaged so I decided to make a temporary pair with the good sides from both pairs of slippers. It was then I realised that the same sides were damaged; the right sides. And in the same way; the heel.

Right heels damaged

This could not be a coincidence. My brain immediately went into overdrive. I pondered on why this was so. It must be the way I walked. So I walked circumspectly. I paid careful attention to the way I walked. Realization dawned. I was favoring my left foot, by putting additional pressure on my right foot.

Torn ligament

It was because of an injury in my left knee. A torn ligament. I alternated between calling it my 'albatross' and my 'thorn in the flesh'. I sustained that injury decades ago while playing basketball. I received a nasty foul in the process of completing a 'lay-up' from a player on the opposing team. I suffered a torn ligament for which I never did reconstructive surgery. It was a weak spot ever since and severely hampered my sporting activities - athletics, netball, basketball, cricket, football etc.

Pressure on one leg while favoring another

It seems that over the years I unconsciously developed the habit of placing pressure on my right leg as I walked or did activities. I placed pressure on my right heel with my knee going back, and cushioned my injury by walking on the ball of my left heel to prevent my knee from going back and failing me. My mind was very conscious of that night I got the bad foul in basketball, and that day it snapped years later when I attempted to make a quick run in a limited over cricket match, and a couple of years after when I slid on wet stairs in my high-heeled shoes and collapsed, and even after that, that day at home when I climbed up to retrieve a hat and the chair toppled. I instinctively tried balancing with my left foot and it buckled.

Buckled...

Since then, it became a reflex action to place pressure on the right foot to avoid a repeat of any of those bad experiences.The action became automatic.The behavior was normalised. I didn't realise what I was subjecting my right leg to until last evening when I noticed the effects of it on my slippers ... decades later.

Reflect

Reader, is there stuff you have also normalised in your life? Take a moment to reflect. You may or may not be aware of why it happened or how or where the effect of such a normalisation is felt, until decades later, or when it may be too late to rectify. What a solemn thought:

That we may engage injurious actions to protect ourselves, without thinking or realising the effects on someone else. May God reveal such actions to us. And may we be prepared to make concerted changes.

Pay attention...

I now realise I have to pay attention to the extra pressure I have been subjecting my right foot to and engage in the necessary therapy to address my left foot.

Skipping: One leg favored at the expense of another

Look not only to your own interests but also to the interest of others (Philippians2:4)