You Might Be in Need of a Spiritual “Adjustment”
The other day I went to the chiropractor for the first time in about two years. I have needed it badly, but for various reasons, I haven’t been to one. The doctor had me sit on the edge of the table and he checked me out. Turns out that there was a lot that wasn’t right.
He made some initial adjustments in the way that I am accustomed to and I felt some change and relief. Then he had me lie on my back and put my arms above my head. I could immediately tell that my arms weren’t at the same levels. He said he needed to adjust my ribcage as it wasn’t straight. I had never heard of this before.
He put his hand on my lower right ribs and said it might hurt as he applied pressure. He just pushed gently. There wasn’t a lot of pressure and it didn’t hurt. I probably outweigh him by 50 pounds and this technique seemed almost silly to me. Obviously it wouldn’t accomplish anything.
He released and had me put my arms above my head again. Low and behold I could feel how they now lined up evenly. I thought, “How could that have done anything?” but it did.
He did some more adjustments to my middle back and, wowsers! The amount of times my back crunched was impressive. I could instantly feel a big change.
He had me sit up and he took hold of my head. He told me that I needed to relax and it was going to be a pretty big adjustment. He twisted. I got a little pop. Nah, not so big. Then he grabbed it the opposite way told me to relax, and gave it a twist. HOLY MACARONI BATMAN! I thought I had been murdered. I let out a yell with the intense sharp pain that shot all through my body as several massive cracks went off.
Then the real pain set in. The muscles on the side of my neck started to spasm and it hurt. A lot. I felt nauseous even. But the chiropractor rubbed it and said it would pass shortly. There had been a lot to fix and my neck was accustomed to being in the wrong way. When it passed, I felt like a new man. I hadn’t felt so good in a long time.
In our spiritual lives there are normal things which we expect are necessary to keep us healthy- reading our bible, praying and going to worship with other believers. Then there are things which people tell us we need that might seem to be pointless at first. Things like, praying for other people, choosing not to participate in negative things like gossip or complaining. After a while we see the results and we understand that it did make a difference.
Then there are the huge adjustments that come with a lot of pain at first. Things like being confronted with our sin and being told that we need to repent. It seems terrible and like someone is attacking us. But very soon afterward, when our spiritual selves quit spasming, we will see that it has relieved a lot of pain in our life and we really, really needed that adjustment.