It’s day 2 of Stacy Hoyt’s 12 Days Of Christmas Blog Hop. Today, the topic is the gift of love. While it’s not exactly the story of a gift, I did come up with something…
He read the words again. “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“Yeah, right,” he thought. “Who doesn’t love himself?”
He raised his right arm over his head, pointing it to straight up. He heard it quietly pop and he felt his collar-bone shift. He lowered his arm and felt the familiar ache of his collar-bone shifting back into place. He made a fist with his right hand, feeling the pain lance up his thumb, into his wrist. He wondered how long his thumb would keep working. “Pain’s just part of life,” he reminded himself. He raised his right knee toward his chest, feeling two lines of fire lance through it. One on the front, one on the back. “You haven’t been getting enough exercise, idiot. That’s why it’s hurting.” He ignored the ache of his left knee, and the bones grinding in his right ankle. That was normal for them. Nothing had changed.
He pulled on his clothes and went to the kitchen. Breakfast consisted of 420 milligrams of Sodium Naproxen to deaden the body aches, and an 8 ounce Red Bull to wake him up for work.
He sat down on the sofa and cut six strips of co-flex to protect blisters and cuts on his toes and heels. After taping up, he put on his socks and shoes. “Time to go to work, you lazy bastard,” he chastised himself, as he started out the door. “I don’t care how you feel.”
But those damn words kept echoing in his mind. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Please go enjoy the rest of the stories in the blog hop. There are some really gifted writers out there. It’s well worth reading their work. You can find the other entries here:
My Soul's Tears 
Those words really do give pause, don’t they? A very thought-provoking, layered story, Mark, and beautifully written. I love how you always have a different, unexpected spin on things.
This story aches with sadness.Your tie in with the Bible passage was really well done, Mark. Undoubtedly, in this case, it should be love yourself as you love your neighbour.
What a poignant take on the prompt. This is one of those pieces that will stay with me for a long time.
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Wow Mark. Delightful. This is a story about love as a gift. One this poor soul is withholding from himself. So sad, so true of many of us. Thank you so much for this telling piece. Great addition to the collection!
Very relateable Mark, I’m on 500mg Naproxen, for my right shoulder, hip and foot! On a more serious note…love is a gift we should give ourselves, but as said before, we so often forget to love ourselves, even in this selfish world…
Like Ruth said, this will stay with me, and maybe I’ll remember to appreciate myself!
I’m not sure I can add to the previous comments, this was a lovely thought provoking piece, I always love how your writing gives me pause. 🙂
Both vivid and thought provoking – all the detail brought it sharply into focus. Excellent story.
I choked on my Sodium Naprox as I was reading this …. I’ve ALWAYS had a problem with “love your neighbour as yourself” because quite honestly … who’d love this?
As usual, your perspective opens a door into a new place. Well done.