Please Touch

I spent time with the "Pray as you Go" app this morning.  The story was the healing of the leper and I found myself repeating these lines

"If you choose, you can make me clean"

"I do choose, be made clean."

And in between those two statements - Jesus did the unthinkable - he touched the leper.  It is a picture of compassion and love.  And for all of us who feel like we are , at times, unclean - a word of hope and healing. There is nobody that Jesus does not love and want to make whole. Nobody.

Of course, as I sat in my bedroom pondering, praying, contemplating all of this with my eyes closed my dog Ginger started whining and whimpering. I had already - halfway through listening to the podcast -  stopped and taken her to the backdoor where she refused to go outside.  So here she was again showing her most annoying self to me and interrupting my important prayer time.

And then I realized what was really happening.  I opened my eyes and invited Ginger to join me on the bed where I was sitting.  She jumped up, I petted her and she settled down.  She wanted to be near me, she wanted to be touched by me. Of course. 

There is much in this for me.  First of all, I can be so full of my own thoughts and concerns that I fail to see or hear the simple needs that are right  in front of me.

Second, I know the power of touch - from holding someone's hands in the hospital, to hugging at church, to doing reiki.  There is something powerful in that physical connection. 

And  I am often like Ginger.  All I want is someone to see me, touch me and acknowledge my presence and then I can settle down.  

I write this as I live isolated because I have covid and have felt the lack of touch in so many aspects of my life.  But soon and very soon I know this time will be over and we will be back together - holding hands, touching, hugging and expressing love and compassion. 

And it is love that heals.