At physio today I was asked about my community outreach.
In the church, this relates to things like evangelism, or social assistance, or small groups, or relational friendships.
For me, with knees that don’t easily take me into community, community outreach is quite simple. This relates to getting outside of the walls of the house where I’m recovering.
The interesting thing? I’m not expected to be "getting out there"! At least if getting out there is detrimental to your health. Stretching beyond your pain or concentration threshold can put you backwards in recuperation.
I pushed physio a bit further to at least get some basic "rules". To which the reply came, "Listen to your body!" So we started talking about my concentration level — I’m good for about 3/4 hour with other people. When I sit in a regular chair, I get pains within 3-4 minutes and have to stand and move around. Someone also recognized that once I’m out with a group I will stay until someone has to lock up the door. so I’ll have to be very disciplined in any "community outreach" I undertake. Suggestion — Ride to the post office (this is a small town!!) and stay in the car. Just open the window and visit those who stop by to chat. They won’t stay long, they’ve had a chance to visit you and you won’t overdo yourself.
I’m thinking a whole new set of approaches to planning events. We often recognize kids have short term concentration, and seniors live with high pain thresholds. So how do we get granny and the kids together for an enjoyable meeting, and then go home wanting to come back next time?
Bikes for the kids and beds for the grannies? Might be something to consider!!