On the wall in our traveling house, I have this little scribbled down note. My Dad wrote it, a few years, I think, before he passed away. It’s nothing special or profound, just some things he jotted down during one of his therapy sessions, after his shoulder surgery.
I hold on to it, because for one, I love to see his hand-writing. I feel like a person’s hand-writing is a little glimpse into their soul. It’s like being able to look into their eyes.
But, I pinned the note up because it reminds me.
That life is brutal and rough at times. We all get battered up, but if we want to get better, we will have to work at it. We’ll have to do hard things.
If we want to heal, we must rest, yes. But eventually we’ll have to stretch things that don’t want to stretch. We’ll be required to push on places that don’t want to be pushed on.
Which also reminds me.
Not to shirk back from pain.
We always want to run away from pain, don’t we? And if we can’t run away from it, we at least want to numb it. I wonder if that’s why we normally keep our lives so loud and busy. If we are loud and if we keep going fast enough and long enough, we won’t have to bother with the questions.
This quarantine has pulled the rug out from so many things. Mainly, all the going and the doing and the running like crazy. Now, the quiet can almost be too much. But, if we want to get better, eventually we do have to sit down long enough, in the stillness with our questions.
We have to let them go knocking around on the inside of our heart. We must learn to put our ear up to them and give them voice.
It hurts to do that because sometimes the answers are painful, but if we are honest and real with ourselves, and if we deal with the crud, we can eventually heal.
Thankfully, there is Jesus.
Jesus is like the kindest physical therapist. I mean, He will stretch you where you don’t want to stretch. He will put His finger (gently) on your sore places. But, He’s a Healer. He will work with you. He will coach you. He will minister to you. And not from an egotistical or condescending place. But, from a place where He can relate because He was once broken, too.
Where is your sore spot? What are your questions?
Maybe while the world is being a little more still and a little more quiet, it would be a good time to work on some hard things. It may not be. Perhaps in this more difficult season, it’s better for you to take up a new hobby or learn a new skill or it may just be good to sit and read, or garden or listen to music and call as many people as you can to keep your mind off things.
But, for someone out there, there is an invitation as the earth begins to heal. “Would you like to heal a little, too?”
If you sense Jesus close enough by, then go ahead. He is there. You can trust Him. Bring Him your questions. Little by little, begin working with Him on your hard things.
