- We can all look back at certain hard or painful situations in life and laugh now about them. But the main point is time is just a concept we use to measure minutes, days, hours, months, years. Time is not a healer. The passage of time may take the edge off of acute pain, but it does not heal pain.
- On the other hand, time can be used well for healing purposes. When time is used well, in terms of healing wounds, then it is because we do something specific with and within it. We take time and shape it in order to do inner work. It is inner work coupled with courage and honesty that heals all wounds
On a personal level I have found sharing and writing to be a vehicle for grieving. When my first wife Ellen passed away I joined a grief recovery group. This group provided me an outlet for my pain and a place to share with others who were also grieving. On the first night me met the leader of the group told us that we would either step into our pain or we would walk around it for a long time. Grieving is hard but necessary work.
After the group was over I began a long process of writing my thoughts down in a short ten chapter booklet I called "An Eye for Redemption". In it I walked through the grieving process I saw in the biblical book of Job and I related it to my life experiences. The experience of writing and sharing my pain was very healing.. I can remember crying at times as I would write.. there seemed to be a deep level of inner healing taking place.
It was from this writing experience that my first blog was born.. and of course I called it An Eye for Redemption. On it I have tried to share about the redemptive power of God in the midst of our pain and how He has used pain to shape me in amazing ways. I do not write there as much as I used to but feel free to browse the archives for my writings on varied topics.
In retrospect I have to say that time may not heal all wounds but time is definitely needed to do the difficult things that heal those wounds. What activities and resources have you found helpful in dealing with grief, pain and the healing of wounds?
Time can do nothing I think, mainly because it is inanimate. Christ heals all wounds through the blood of His cross and the healing that He purchased by His death. Just my thoughts.
ReplyDelete@Gregg - Agree with you about the healing power of Christ. I think the ways that wounds are healed are so important. Some of the most wounded people are often Christians who have never been taught how to grieve or share their pain in a loving environment. When my first wife died I had to go outside of my local church to find help. Some of my pastoral ministry was reaching out to these kinds of folks and letting them know that they were not alone.
ReplyDeleteGrief groups are so important and especially if they are based in the healing power of the Lord. My friend who's husband died the week after they moved up here is a shining example. If she didn't have a place to let it out and have Loves arms around her I really don't know how she would have made it.
ReplyDeleteNo time doesn't heal but it does soften the edges.
Writing, writing, writing what I see and hear from inside the grief bubble. The bubble gets weaker as I do this. This is great stuff, Bob. Thanks!
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