Cuts, Life, and Healing

On Monday night, our family was visiting a friend in a care facility. We were excited to see him. We were having a nice visit with the friend and his family when our three year old son, David, tripped and fell. Usually he pops right back up, but not this time. His little face landed on the metal frame of the bed in the room. David’s cheek was split open.

Obviously our visit didn’t go as planned and was cut short. The next visit was to the Emergency Room at Lakeside Hospital. The physician told us the cut was deep enough that David needed stitches. That procedure was more than our older son Benjamin was willing to stomach, so he and I spent the rest of the night in the waiting room. A couple hours later, David came out carrying some Thomas the Tank Engine stickers and a little toy. He wasn’t quite his usual self, but he was still talkative and energetic.

Four days later, David’s cheek is still swollen. He has the stitches for one week. We are not supposed to let them get too wet and we bandage them up at night. David is pretty much back to normal, except when we change his bandage, you’d think he is having a root canal.

The stitches will soon be removed. The cut will continue to heal. One day he won’t even remember his fall on that Monday evening in the nursing home. And so it is with most healing: whether it is healing that is physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual.

Pain, injury, and dysfunction happen in life. It is impossible to avoid such things. Consider this: We could keep David in a padded room and make sure he never gets a cut on his body. Or, we could help him experience friendship with others and encourage him to see the beauty of the world – knowing that he is going to get some bumps and bruises and an occasional broken heart along the way. Soren Kierkegaard was right when he wrote: To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.

Being hurt and experiencing pain are an important part of life. Healing and recovering is equally important. Here are the lessons from David’s fall:

1. Healing best happens in community.
2. Healing is a process that takes time.
3. Sometimes healing from a fall is better than not taking a fall at all.

I know many of you who read this are hurting in one way or another. Maybe it is physical or mental. Perhaps it is because of a relationship or an addiction. It might even be in your relationship with God. Regardless, the Great Physician is present to stitch our lives back together. And the church embraces each other as we take our common journey of healing and wholeness together.

The best is yet to come…

Craig