Dancing Through Pain

Tim Hansel was considered a lucky, nay, a blessed man to have survived his fall off a glacier. It's just that it resulted in fractured vertebrae, crushed discs, bone fragments in his neck, and a life of constant pain.

The real miracle is that it also resulted in a life of constant demand as a speaker, writer, and leader of adventure trips (Click here to read more about Tim Hansel).

Hansel's book that specifically deals with his climbing accident and its aftermath has a title that would seem flippant if you didn't know how he had earned the right to say it: You Gotta Keep Dancin'  -  In the Midst of Life's Hurts, You Can Choose Joy!

Some highlights:

All of our lives are terminal. Only time and quality differ. The choice for all of us is not if we will accept pain, but how.

You don't truly discover your roots until you are at the bottom of the pit.

If you can't change circumstances, change the way you respond to them.

Learning patience...takes a lot of patience.

Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional.... God has given us such immense freedom that he will allow us to be as miserable as we want to be.

The damage has been done. The worst is over. You will have to live with pain, but that's a small price to pay for life.

I know full well that I would rather make my days count than merely count my days.

Most of the Epistles were written in prisons.

The Scriptures say that the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree  -  but we need to remember that palm trees don't grow in beautiful forests, but in the desert.

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Truth is...this isn't as simple as saying "Chin up, buckaroo!" One last quote (and how Hansel ends the book): In his marvelous and mysterious way, God keeps shaping us until he can see himself in our lives. The process is long, arduous, complex, and certainly not painless, but it's worth it. And we need not wait until the conclusion to celebrate. We can, if we choose, genuinely celebrate the process.

There is no box
   made by God
   nor us
but that the sides can be flattened out
   and the top blown off
   to make a dance floor
   on which to celebrate life.
                   -Kenneth Caraway