There is something about the human body’s determination to heal itself that points to the best of spirituality. Believe me when I say that I’ve explored this. For over seven decades I’ve explored this.
My first memory of needing physical healing occurred when I was around three or four. My mother was washing clothes with a wringer washer and I spotted a face cloth stuck to the rollers, circulating round and round. Of course I tried to yank it out. By the time my mom sprang to open the rollers, I was pulled in beyond my elbow. I can’t remember the pain, but my mother said that my young bones actually flattened for a time. They healed completely. For the rest of my mom’s life I accused her of deliberately causing that machine to discourage my left handedness, while she insisted in turn that it was my right arm that went into the wringer. It could be.
A much more recent example points to my inability to learn, to become smarter. I was welding on my driveway, building a stair railing. Shorts, Dawgs, ratty t-shirt, it was a warm day. The work piece shifted when I wasn’t expecting, and I grabbed it. Right in the spot where I had just finished welding.
Now, I have all the appropriate safety gear, Leather jacket, apron, gloves, heavy boots. In fact, gloves were on the table while I worked. They’re so hot, so restrictive…
For these recurring emergencies, I have on hand a tube of Aloe Vera gel, which does wonders for burn pains. In this case, I needed a new application every fifteen seconds. Huge blisters formed between my thumb and my fingers. The first night was sleepless.
The body heals. After several days, those blisters drained, and peeled off. A fresh layer of skin underneath was preparing to form the new covering on my palm. It was pink and clean. Somehow, it represented the incredible ability of this vessel I call my body to repair, to renew.
I mentioned that I’ve tested this ability thoroughly. When I check in at the blood donor clinic, and the attendant checks my arms for needle tracks, eyebrows are sometimes raised at my scars, until I explain, “Uhh, welding burns.”
Something that speaks to the incredible ongoing activity of creation is occurring when blisters repair themselves, when bones heal, when gashes stich themselves closed, when a broken mind discovers a little hope. Since the saga was told about my eye bleed and the temporary blindness that followed, that story has been repeated several more times, and each time, my eye has returned to vision. While medical professionals explore and guess at what the cause might be, my eye is doing its part to set things right.
It strikes me that the body’s determination to repair itself is both a metaphor and the actual activity of creation. A healthy spirituality reminds us that we are worthy, that we are unique, that we carry beauty. We are reminded that we will experience grief, hardship, loss. That is part of our journey. If we deny that pain, our walk will become skewed. It we live with the pain, if we walk toward and through pain, we discover new strength, new vulnerability, new hope. We will become stronger. We will change. And if I direct you back to the clean and pink new skin that peeped out from the messy and burned parchment on my palm, we might even gain some beauty.
In my life, I have needed to acknowledge that my mental health is an issue that needs to be named and addressed. In earlier years, awareness and supports were not much available. In the past few decades, as I and professional folks have worked on my anxiety and depression issues, fragile mental health has been buttressed, and hopefully the new skin beneath the mental wounds has appeared somewhat pink.
Often, healing is a community event, with lots of participants involved. It is an event that is hugely impacted by the determination of the players.
The next time you experience healing, healing of any kind, offer thankfulness to the good creation that surrounds us. Experience the hope of seeing that creation move on to new places. Look for pink new skin.
Ed Olfert is a retired clergy person who continues to find glimpses of holiness in every step. These days, his steps wander further into the world.
