Healing

I loved watching my daughter play the role of a nurse following Armageddon in her recent Destination Imagination State contest. She was the "healer" in the skit. Her hands morphed the despair of the victim into delight, as she literally worked the gears that morphed the mask the young lady was wearing. What a wonderful symbol. Her clothes were tattered and shredded by the holocaust that had destroyed the land, but she came out of the background, like an angel, swooping down to breathe life again into the fallen.

I don't know about most people, but I know that I need continual reaffirmation that redemption is real, that hope is possible even in horrific situations, and that the "Healer" will come. So often, it seems that sadness threatens to draw a shroud of impenetrable darkness around us, and it is so easy to forget that angels exist, God sees all, and that wrongful accusations will one day be righted; grief and despair washed away.

Mom K is holding her own in the hospital. It seems she is slowly growing better, eating well, and increasingly aware. I am very sad, nonetheless. It has been very hard, watching so much pain and suffering. Any one who has gone through this knows nothing prepares you for it. It stinks. I did the laundry this morning and started pounding the washing machine, who really was not at all at fault. "I hate death," I yelled at the poor washing machine. If any appliance would agree with me, I suspect it would be the washing machine, who likes things fresh and new, cleansed from all the filth of living.

But then, I sat down and began drawing the picture of my daughter playing the role of the "healer". And I felt a little better. The washing machine didn't hold the beating I had given it against me. Death will be conquered one day. My sin was forgiven. If it could have talked it would have told me its favorite verse was "Wash me and I will be whiter than snow."

Psalm 51:7-12 (NIV)
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. [8] Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. [9] Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. [10] Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. [11] Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. [12] Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org