Article October 25, 1999 Issue

God's image doesn't need icing

You can enjoy sports without sports medicine.

By Pamela Guthman

Recently, when A friend and I were on the third mile of a routine five-mile run, my leg and knee began to hurt. I mentioned this to my running partner; an athlete who has participated in a number of marathons and Ironman competitions over the years. Her advice was to slow to a walk and determine what kind of pain it was, in order to know whether to ice it or heat it. Eventually, she recommended icing.

When I arrived home, I gathered some ice and got settled on the couch. But it seemed to me there was more I could be doing than just accepting the pain as unavoidable. I recalled the episode in Acts where Peter and John meet a man who had been unable to walk since birth (see Acts 3:1-11). The crippled man sits outside of a temple asking alms. When Peter sees him, he says he doesn't have money to give the man, but that he does have something better. I like to think that Peter was mentally acknowledging only the true identity of this man, as he had learned from Jesus. This true identity is presented in the first chapter of the Bible ("God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him," Genesis 1:27). Peter's spiritual understanding then brings healing to the man. He takes the man by the hand and lifts him up. Couldn't we say that he was being lifted to a higher state of consciousness? The man feels the effects of this uplifted thought. "He leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

I pondered this story, and applied its points to my own life. I remembered that I, too, am created in God's image. As this idea struck me fully, I began to laugh. Why was I icing my leg? How would a bag of ice improve my understanding of God and bring healing? With that, I threw the ice away and went on with my day, never giving my leg or knee another thought.

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