You were seen with
the eyes of perfect love long before you entered into the dark valley of life.
The spiritual life begins at the moment that you can go beyond all the wounds
and claim there was a love that was perfect and unlimited long before that
perfect love became reflected in the imperfect and limited, conditional love of
people. –Henri
Nouwen
We often have one of two reactions to wounds, both
physical and emotional: we either try to
hide them or we become defined by them. To have a healthy relationship to our
wounds enables us to be transformed by them. Our wounds are part of us, but we
are more than our wounds.
Our wounds can make us stronger. Years ago, my younger
son had surgery to correct a recurring spontaneous pneumothorax. The surgeon
made scar tissue on the exterior of the lung so it would basically act like
glue to hold the lung in place so it would no longer collapse. The wound of
scar tissue corrected his issue.
Our wounds do not make us less than. As Henri Nouwen
says, we are loved perfectly by God without any reserve, without any
consideration of what we’ve done or what we fail to do, or what anyone has done
to us. Just as Jesus rose with and was loved with his wounds, so are we.
Jesus did not try to hide his wounds. In fact, he used
his wounds to identify himself to his disciples after his resurrection. They
connect him to us; they are a sign that being human means suffering, and that
in what is apparent weakness, God overcomes and brings new life.
We cannot see the beauty that comes from our wounds when
we are in the midst of pain and hurt. Yet when we can live our wounds through,
rather than ignoring them or becoming defined by them, God is able to bring
beauty from even the darkest places of pain. And often that beauty is beyond
anything we could have ever hoped or imagined.