Saturday Gratitude: for Strong Backs and Strong Arms

I expected to be more sore today.  Yesterday, after a vigorous spin class, I popped by the house of friends.  They were getting 2 pallets of mulch and 2 pallets of river rock delivered.  As with many an item, the delivery stops at the driveway, so they planned to spend as much time on Saturday as it took to get the mulch and rock to the backyard, behind a fence with a lock.

I planned to help.  I thought I would stay for an hour.  But it was such a nice day, and the work went fairly quickly, and it was so strangely satisfying.  My spouse was out of town, so my day was completely my own.  After the week I had at work (shredding, sorting, 3 hour long HR meetings, sad/angry people), it was so WONDERFUL to feel like we were making progress and to feel like I was truly helping.

It was also wonderful to realize that my body works in this way.  We were 3 women age 49 and over, and we could move 4 pallets in less than 2 hours.  Each bag of rocks weighed 40 pounds, and I moved at least 20 of them.  We all work out, but we don't do a lot of manual labor. Although I wouldn't want to do it every day, and certainly not for a living, it was good to know that I can do it.
In fact, we stopped at one point about halfway through and all looked at each other.  One friend said, "Let us now give thanks for strong backs."  I said, "Let us now give thanks for strong backs and strong arms."  It felt like a holy moment of prayer.  I don't know if they felt it too.  I do feel that the work continued to go smoothly, when it could have fallen apart at any moment. 

I did feel like we were sincerely giving thanks.  I was thanking my maker, and it wouldn't surprise me if the other two women were too.  We were also thanking ourselves, for getting to the gym and keeping ourselves strong.  And I was thankful to live in a society, where 3 women can be outside for several hours without being threatened.

Today I'll offer prayers for all those who are not so lucky.