The Wounded Healer

How many of us have thought how lovely it would be to make a difference in the world around us? To help to improve the lives of the needy? Especially this time of year we seem to become aware of those who are often forgotten in our business of living, amidst bill paying and getting to appointments on time and and making dinner. I've always thought a rewarding life would include helping hurting hearts to find hope, however it was never part of my plan to become one of the suffering.



However, as I mature in years I'm finding that my awareness for the pain of others seems to grow in proportion to personal experience of suffering. My own pain seems to grow a necessary humility into my offerings of assistance. Where before I remembered the hurting from a position of strength, I am discovering an unfamiliar kind of compassion in reaching out from my weakness. Weird. I never would have welcomed suffering, but its lesson is humility and grace. May we all learn it quickly.