A Clean Shot

I cut my finger…apparently.
I don't even know when I cut it, but I noticed a little dried blood yesterday evening. So apparently at some point I cut it. And now it hurts. All day, every time I bump it or rub it on something or wash my hands with soap it hurts!

And this got me thinking: I don't even remember hurting it, but I sure feel the after effects! How many times in life is that us? We may not even recognize when someone hurts us, when we take an offense, or when we get bruised. But boy do we sure feel it for sometimes years to come when things rub against that wound!

And then you find yourself backtracking, asking what is this pain from? But that's only if you're careful and observant. If you're not careful, you may not even notice the wound itself, and just continue to live out of the pain and rawness that results from it's hidden place in your life.

How can something we didn't even recognize as a hurt leave a mark that takes time to heal? Whew. That's a question right there. And I'm really not sure I have the answer. But I know it happens. I have this image in my head of that scene in the action movies where there's a gunshot, and you think the hero is ok; until they look down and realize the bullet went right through them. And then the blood spills out…and I stop watching.

Sometimes a hurt does just that. It's a clean shot. Through and through. And until the junk starts spilling out, you may not know it's there.

Instead of bandaging it, I say let it out. Get the junk out of your life! Figure out:
1) where the hurt came from
What caused it? Why? When? You may have to journey back quite a ways…
2) what draws the blood?
What in particular causes the wound to surface? What rubs it the wrong way? Why?
3) how to let it heal
Do whatever it takes to get to the root of it, and let it heal! Don't keep living out of the pain, out of the discomfort.

The smallest grain of sand in the wrong place (like your swimsuit) can do major damage! Don't discount wounds because they seem tiny. And don't discount them because they seem too big. God did not create you to live that way. He sent His son so that we could walk in freedom.

Much love.