For the last several years I have had on and off issues with my neck. I have had imaging performed to see if there was a serious issue, I’ve gotten cracked by my Chiropractor dozens of times, and I have even done physical therapy. All these things have helped, but no solution has lasted a substantial amount of time.
The other day before Youth Group, my neck was completely locked up and throbbing with pain. I went to my Chiro/PT desperate for some relief. She said “I think it’s time we put you on the table”, she opened the door, took me to some weird guy in the back corner and he told me to “lay down”. Next thing I know, he straps down my forehead and the only thing above my shoulders that I can move is my eyes. I said “Yo, what is this thing going to do to me?! Am I about to get shock therapy or even a lobotomy?” He laughed and proceeded to explain what this device was.
When we go throughout life, we get our neck twisted in weird places and positions. If you’re like me, when you get really stressed, the stress is actually stored and tightens up areas of your body, like the neck. We incur a lot of tension and damage in our necks over time. But this machine straps you down and literally pulls your head away from your body, “stretching out your neck”. This was a little uncomfortable, but when I got stretched, it allowed things in my body to fall back into a more proper and healthy position. The stretching is uncomfortable, awkward, or weird in the moment but in the long run, it feels so good.
Later that day at Youth Group, I was talking with a student about the relationships/friendships in their life. They were telling me they needed to get new friends because their current ones were not good. But the thing that is so uncomfortable about that is that they were in a season where they felt like they had no friends at all. And I couldn’t help but share with them that they were being stretched. They needed to leave behind the old in order to allow new things to come into their life that could fall into a better and healthier place. Just like my neck was being stretched just hours before so the ligaments and tight muscles may fall into a better place.
The stretch can be so uncomfortable and even painful at times. But this kind of pain will make us better and creates new space in our lives and hearts, for something so much better.
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