I had the first surgery of my life a week ago, to repair an injury to my left knee.
This morning was the first time I was capable of leaving the house, to get a cup of coffee. Even though it was a slow and awkward journey on my crutches, it was a thrilling experience.
I have always striven to be grateful for what I have been blessed with, but you can never truly be as grateful for something as when it is taken away. You just can’t.
Had I ever thanked God in my entire life for my left knee?
Sure, I have thanked God for my health many many times, in many different ways. And fear of losing my health has even driven me deeper into reliance upon and hope in God’s generosity.
But had I ever thanked God for my left knee?
For all the sports I played when I was younger, all the jumping around on stage with a guitar or stomping away on the hi-hat pedal, all the adventures I have gone on, all predicated on my left knee functioning properly?
Did I ever thank God for my left knee?
For the ability to make prostration smoothly during prayer, sit on the ground relatively comfortably during a sacred gathering, or go back and forth between Safa and Marwa without pain?
Had I ever thanked God for my left knee?
For all the walks I have been on with my wife or son or friends or parents, strolling around, taking in the sights, lost in conversation?
Had I ever taken the time, even once, to say thank you to my Creator for giving me a left knee in the first place and preserving it from major damage for 40 years?
No.
So even though it is a too little too late, thank You, God, for my left knee.
And my right knee too 😉
ما شاء الله لا قوة إلا بالله
A Mercy Case 