A loud voice came across the room, "Stop picking."
My mother had just caught me picking at the wound I had received the other day from riding my bike.
Day after day I would hear those words again and again for each wound I received as a child. Indeed I liked to scratch, to pick, and to not leave alone those wounds. You can't really rationalize why, but it's hard to leave them alone.
Sure, it would leave a nasty scar that would take a long time to fade, or worse it might get infected.
Throughout my life and ministry, I have noticed something. We all have wounds and scars in our lives.
They are the various hurts our bodies and minds have weathered.
Some are visible upon our skin, some are beneath the skin, and some are not so easily seen perhaps because they are emotional.
One thing is for sure - we love to pick at them. There is something about those hurts in our lives we just can't leave alone. We are good pickers.
We pick at the hurts in our lives and fail to let go, to forgive and forget, and sometimes we like to leave the wounds open or let them get bigger or infected when they should heal.
Indeed, many would probably tell you, we need to let go of those hurts and wounds in order to be healthy.
Perhaps we need that voice of a parent to say stop at times or to
simply say let go.
Forgiveness and letting go is not easy for us. In truth, though we cry out for it and to be reconciled to our neighbour, our families, or friends, we don't do it.
In the Christian faith especially we find that our wounds are meant to heal. Our own bodies show us this each and every day as it wards off infections, diseases, and seals up our wounds.
The only person's wounds that are meant to remain are the wounds of Christ which every Christian looks to this Lenten season. For these wounds are the wounds that Jesus sustained on the cross during His crucifixion for the sin of the world.
What is interesting to note is how the bible treats His wounds after
Jesus's death.
They remain. The bible tells people to let their wounds heal, but Jesus's wounds remain forever. The reason is that His wounds serve as a sign for people to look too. Christians believe that it is by His wounds they are forgiven and healed.
His wounds stay because they declare God and man at peace. Jesus's wounds do not serve as a reminder of hurts, but forgiveness.
Perhaps this year you can let a few wounds heal yourself. You can remember that only Jesus's wounds remain, and ours are meant to heal.
Try seeking out the person who hurt you and forgive them.You might just feel better and that open wound might just scar over and
begin to fade away.
