| Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. —Jeremiah 33:6  Healing by Morgan Harper Nichols, from Peace Is a Practice 
 Editor's note: Healing is God's business. The word may be painful when we are eager for healing to come now or when someone has gone on to Heaven without being healed on earth, but it is the providence and province of the Lord and not us. It is ours to pray and to trust and hope in Him!
Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. —Jeremiah 33:6
*
When I think of the word healing, I think of a time-lapse video I once saw of a wound on a finger healing. I, along with many others in the comment section, found myself surprised by how dry and crusted the wound looked as it healed. It got worse before it got better.
I have struggled with the word healing for a long time.
Growing up with a sister who has a neurological condition, I had seen church people use this word to claim that if she let them pray, they could heal her if only she had enough faith. We encountered those who seemed set on "fixing" her the minute after finding out about her condition, as if Christians were not allowed to have someone like her in their midst.
For a long time after this, I tensed up at the word. When I began to write for other people's stories, occasionally I would be asked about healing, but I never knew what to say. I was still trying to find healing from the damage the word healing had done.
One day the word healing came out in a poem I was writing for someone. It fell onto the page before I could stop it:
I am worthy of the time it takes to do the things that heal my heart.
As I prepared to send the poem to the person I wrote it for, I almost rewrote the heal out of it. I couldn't imagine putting this person in the same situation my sister had been in, even in the smallest way. I went back and read the sender's original message. Then it made sense why something within me loosened enough to include this word: she had mentioned the word healing several times herself. She had shared with me about her love and her losses, and that's exactly what she was after: healing. Suddenly, I felt free to write about healing in this poem. Her mentioning healing was permission for me to reflect it back to her. Also, she had written to me about wounds of the heart, the kind of healing that you don't just see work itself out like a finger cut binding back together in a time-lapse video.
In Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved, Kate Bowler generously shares her story of reckoning with mortality when she was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. In the book, she offers a list with this title: Absolutely Never Say This to People Experiencing Terrible Times: A Short List. In response to the phrase everything happens for a reason, she says, "I've had hundreds of people tell me the reason for my cancer... When someone is drowning, the only thing worse than failing to throw them a life preserver is handing them a reason."1 Bowler then goes on to offer us a short list of what we can try instead. This list includes "I'd love to bring you a meal. Can I email you?" and "Can I give you a hug?" Bowler gives a window into what it feels like to be on the receiving end of these words and how sometimes the small, practical things are what we need. What I dearly love about this list is how much it involves coming back into the body and into the non-sensationalized practicality of providing balm for wounds.
I once sat in a church service where the pastor declared that we were not doing enough healing and we needed to do it quickly. He referenced Jesus walking and healing the sick, and I couldn't help but wonder, "Okay... and what about the walking around part? That seems to be a common thread in these Jesus stories... walking around and just being with people first." I am not trying to minimize where and how healing happens, but I can't help but notice that we as humans don't spend much time listening to others' stories, walking alongside them, and allowing for slow healing. . . . When someone has kindly invited me into their story, I can give them the gift of my presence. Often, I have found that when someone reaches out, they're not looking for advice. They desire what every other human being is looking for in one way or another —to be seen.
Stories, especially stories of tragedy and trauma that we can't fix, have a way of disarming us. They also can leave us feeling like we have failed if we can't make everything better. Yet we are free, at any given time, to get down to the bottom of it all and focus on what connects us. We can pause before we speak and say to ourselves, "We are two human beings who, for whatever reason, have crossed paths to be here for this moment. How can I be present to this other soul?"
I think it is far too easy to drastically underestimate just how much people need to be seen. On any social network, you will see friends and strangers alike sharing post after post. At first glance, it can seem to be for vanity. Why are all these people posting so much? Don't they have other things to do? Do they even have lives outside of social media? But after decades of an ever-increasing, ever-loudening pulse of mass communication, we have all been dealt the task of trying to navigate a global, growing machine that none of us ever asked for. It's easy to look at a handful of teenagers or irresponsible grown-ups in a viral video and say, "There's no hope for humanity." But sometimes we have to sift through the noise to hear the real message.
This is one of the main reasons I have chosen to share poetry and artwork on the internet over the past few years. I don't think my work has all the answers by any means, but I do believe that in an ever-evolving digital landscape that makes it easy to consume messages about what we don't have, what we can't figure out, and who we're not, it is critical that we also have messages that remind us of what we do have, what we do know, and who we are: human beings who still have the capacity to enter into love, grace, and peace.
A slower, more considerate look at our current landscape finds this: a lot of hurting people who have been dealt something they don't know how to fix. Sitting with ourselves in the silence has become painfully difficult. Our wounds go deep.
We need healing.
And it is not too late to pursue healing, collective healing, throughout the seasons and cycles of life.
Let's breathe in the air of each other's stories and find compassion and patience and grace for one another. And if we don't get it all right immediately, we can remind each other that we're still practicing. Day by day. Breath by breath. That's how we heal. That's how we grow.
Through Healing, We...Practice Peace by Not Putting Time Constraints on the Healing Process
No two wounds heal the same. Some take longer to heal than others. Some heal and leave no mark, while others scab over and leave a scar. And then there are those wounds we know are there but can't physically touch. The ones that leave us with questions: "Why is this taking so long?" "Will I ever heal?" There is no shame in not having the answers. We practice peace by accepting that slowness does not equate to ineffectiveness. Healing differently from someone else doesn't mean you're healing wrong. For some wounds, "healing" might feel like finally finding a friend who understands. It might sound like the rumble of the ocean waves that makes you forget about everything else. It might taste like the morning air that reminds you of your freedom to breathe.
Practice Peace by Having Empathy for Others
When we understand that wounds heal differently and at different paces, we are able to have empathy for those who are healing in their own way. Knowing there is no one right way to heal can help us be a healing presence. Be the one who isn't concerned with rushing everything along. Become someone others can turn to because they know you're not going to rush to fix them.
The Breath
What matters more than anything in the healing process is that you are alive. While you may have a recovery plan mapped out on the calendar, the most important things are the inhales and exhales. Whatever your relationship is to progress right now —whether it's slower than expected or you're trekking right along, may you never underestimate the power of each breath. If all you do today is take mindful inhales and exhales, that matters more than you know.
1. Kate Bowler,Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved(New York: Random House, 2019), 170. Excerpted with permission from Peace Is a Practice by Morgan Harper Nichols, copyright Morgan Harper Nichols.
Your Turn
You are alive today. You are not done! God still has a plan and purpose for your life. He has healing for you and it can start right now. Step towards Him! Come share your thoughts with us. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily Share this devotion with someone who needs it today.
LAUNCHING NATIONWIDE THIS WEEK
Save 30% off the brand-new book from beloved poet and artist Morgan Harper Nichols
 Hardcover, Regular Price: $25.99 eBook price: $12.99 + free U.S. shipping* on orders $35 or more When you breathe in all the grace available to you and release everything that is outside of your control, you'll discover peace that surpasses your circumstances.
All it takes is practice.
If you feel overwhelmed with anxiety about the future, you're far from alone. For many of us, when we're not worrying about what is to come, we find ourselves wrestling with things from the past. Where does that leave us today?
Morgan Harper Nichols has learned the answer to this question. She has examined stories from her own life and the lives of people around the world and noticed a common thread: we all long for peace. We're all seeking light and life. But these things don't happen passively.
Peace Is a Practice invites you to become a peacemaker in your own life, starting right where you are, and in some of the most unexpected places. As these words and images inspire you to take daily steps toward peace, you'll uncover the key to:
In every moment, there is something as deep and boundless as a winding river waiting to be found--a true peace that flows, beckoning you to rest . . . and be still.
Breathe in Grace . . . Release Everything Outside of Your Control . . . Peace is a Practice that You Can Learn.
MORE HUGE SAVINGS
Morgan Harper Nichols' Two Previous Books
Save 59% off How Far You Have Come  Hardcover, Regular Price: $18.99 eBook price: $9.99 + free U.S. shipping* on orders $35 or more
Save 45% off All Along You Were Blooming  Hardcover, Regular Price: $18.99 eBook price: $11.49 + free U.S. shipping* on orders $35 or more
*Sale prices valid through 02/28/2022, ending at 11:59pm EST, excluding eBooks and audiobooks. eBooks and audiobook purchases are fulfilled by our partner, Glose. Free U.S. shipping on orders over $35, excluding Alaska and Hawaii Devotionals Daily ~ our mission is to help you grow and share your faith.
Copyright © 2022 HarperCollins Christian Publishing, All Rights Reserved. |
- He has healing for you and it can start right now.
- Posted by On
Under:
-
Popular Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment