Deep Healing

Healing....take time to read this week's readings

In times of pain we do well to linger gently in God's presence....taking the time to receive all that we need to be returned to wholeness.

Sometimes life seems to work against that process. For any number of reasons we may decide (or others may decide for us) that enough time has passed and we must get on with life and relationships. So we plunge in....perhaps prematurely.

I recall an incident when one of my friends suffered a hairline fracture in her shin ... she was a tennis player... immediately after the cast was removed she headed to the court... (in fact, she had been on the court even while in the cast) unfortunately she was injured again...not necessarily a more severe fall... You can guess what happened though...this time the bone broke (in the same place)

She had wanted to get on with getting on. She had not eased her way through the healing process taking small steps toward her life. She had counted solely upon the surface healing. Resistance and strength would come later, as the initial fracture was knit together at a deeper level. But she "couldn't" wait.

Now, I'm not an advocate of dwelling in pain in some self absorbed fashion. But I also know that it is often challenging to wait for deep and complete healing. Our situation starts to look better, so we re-engage with our activities and relationships (normal life) Then something happens and our incomplete healing causes a ripple effect of injuries to ourselves and others...often through what we say, or do, (or fail to do) because we are still fragile -- not yet deeply healed.

When we are wounded God invites us to wait for wellness in its deepest sense. It will most certainly return. And when it does, there will be a time and a place when our wholeness will be drawn into action that will ease the pain of another....that is why it is imperative that we wait for deep healing. We all, unfortunately, have seen examples of one "wounded" person wreaking havoc upon another. But God's healing functions at the core of all that we suffer so that our wound becomes a place of abundant (seemingly miraculous) strength.

The reality is that we are all wounded. The reality is that we all need to rely upon God's promise to heal our pain and suffering. God remembers each injury we have experienced: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual...sometimes long after we ourselves have decided that we have gotten through (or over) the wound. God continually bestows the healing of grace...the wholeness of Love's presence.

Part of the call of faithful living is an awareness of those times when you are in need of the healing touch of the Lord. Vulnerability and weakness are not places for denial or shame. Lean into the healing touch of the one who knows the deepest wounds you suffer. Joy comes...and with joy, wholeness and abundance of life that glorifies God and spills into loving and serving others.