Waiting

For healing. 

Last Wednesday I had a basel cell carcinoma removed which produced a hole in my face.  Not large - between my nose and cheek.  Thursday I had stitches put in.  And now I am waiting for them to be removed in 10 days and for the wound to heal.  I check it several times a day because I want to see something happening!  The good news is that it is healing.  The swelling is mostly gone and so is the redness on my face.  There is progress.

Right now the decision is - to bandage or not.  Part of it is the question - do people want to see your wounds?  At what point is it "in good taste" to share them?  Does having them "air out" help to make them heal faster?

I write this and wonder about the emotional wounds that we carry.  Many of them are covered up and no one knows about them.  And if they are not acknowledged, it is possible that they will continue to fester and do damage.

I am part of a group called "The Readers and Writers Salon" which has been a real gift to me for over three years.  Over these years I have written quite a bit about grief and loss and the wounds of daily life.  It has been a blessing - not only to put it down on paper in words - but to speak those words to trusted friends who have become closer over the years because of this sharing.  

I think all of us are waiting for some kind of healing.  And the gift is trusting in the presence of our healing God and finding ways to "air out" the wound as it become smaller and over time healed.

 Whenever something happens - either physically through sickness or emotionally through life hurts - there is a part of me that thinks it will never get better.  Will I be disfigured from these stitches?  Will I ever be happy after the death of my husband?  Will I ever feel better after I have covid?  I have thought all these things.  That is, a part of me has thought that.

At the same time, I live in faith that our invisible and loving and powerful God is working and bringing healing that comes slowly.  But it comes.  And I wait in faith and doubt.  I wait.

A Prayer by Maxine Shonk

May God be soothing ointment for all that is hurting in you.

May this God cover you with healing grace and presence as you are nursed back to health.

May the balm of God's love bring you to a place of perspective on your life while the pain and hurt take their proper place in your experience.

May this new perspective bring understanding and wisdom into the lives of all those who know hurt.

May God HEALING BALM of your life, Bless you

Amen