We suffer the wounds of loss--people we love, things that were important to us, even places that we cherish in our memories; memories filled with the people and things that made those places part of our heart.
We have been wounded by others. Some of those wounds were deliberate. They knew they were wounding us but just didn't care. Oh, how deep that wound! Some of those wounds were unintended, "accidental." Yet, at times, such wounds were as deep and painful as the deliberate ones. To be so irrelevant, so invisible in the heart of someone you love that thoughts of how their decision might wound your heart didn't even occur to them. Ah, the pain of careless wounds.
Sometimes we have seen those we love wounded, and the pain reaches deep into our soul as well. The pain of helplessness is a heavy wound.
Physical pains--wounds--affect us as well. Thorns in the flesh to remind us of our weakness--the wound of frustration with our physical shortcomings can reach into our souls and become spiritual wounds.
What are we the
"walking wounded" to do? Remember first--"Wounded for me, wounded for
me. There on the cross, He was wounded for me." Then, pray that the
Spirit will make you sensitive to those around you lonely from loss.
Your love cannot replace the loss, but it can fill a heart with the joy
of being loved, of being cared for. The balm of comfort has a healing
all its own. And forgive. Never repay evil with evil. To be His child
and an afflicter of wounds. What could be so antagonistic toward the
love wounds willingly displayed on that old rugged cross--for you?
Forgive, always forgive. And we cannot forgive if we do not "forget."
And rest in the grace that makes even physical pain a source of
dependent strength.
"Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? No; there's a cross for everyone, and there's a cross for me." But I must remember each day, the cross He calls me to bear is like His--a cross of obedience to the Father, a cross to radiate love, a cross to radiate compassion, a cross empowered to fill the lives of the wounded all around me with joy and grace.
"Wounded for me, wounded for me. There on the cross He was wounded for me."
Lord, may my wounds through the enabling of your Spirit of grace be transformed into crowns that I can lay at your feet, wounded for me.
"Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? No; there's a cross for everyone, and there's a cross for me." But I must remember each day, the cross He calls me to bear is like His--a cross of obedience to the Father, a cross to radiate love, a cross to radiate compassion, a cross empowered to fill the lives of the wounded all around me with joy and grace.
"Wounded for me, wounded for me. There on the cross He was wounded for me."
Lord, may my wounds through the enabling of your Spirit of grace be transformed into crowns that I can lay at your feet, wounded for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment