Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Ever view your woundedness as a gift?
I read something this week that continues to have a profound effect on me. It was a reflection on Henri Nouwen's book Wounded Healer.
The wounded healer represents Nouwen’s belief that “in our own woundedness we can become a source of life for others.” This image bumps up against our common images of woundedness. On one hand, when we think of the wounded we think “victim”—powerless, weak, done in. We become the Wounded Victim when our personhood becomes absorbed into our own sense of brokenness, and all we can be for the world is powerless victim. To protect ourselves from this possibility, we create the icon of the Impenetrable Healer—bullet-proof, strong, indestructible. Here, we deny our own wounds and ignore our brokenness until we find ourselves isolated.
Somewhere between the icons of the Wounded Victim and the Impenetrable Healer is a third way: The Wounded Healer. Sounds crazy… wounded healer…. How can my being wounded and tending to those wounds make another person whole? In fact, the ancient healing traditions believe that the ability to heal comes directly out of one’s own woundedness and moving through that woundedness to a deep place of wisdom and compassion.
How do you view your wounds? How do you view your own brokenness? Most of us become wounded victims. The church is packed with victims.
Let me challenge you with this thought. Ask yourself, "how have I been gifted by my woundedness?" And then ask, "from my woundedness, how can I gift the world?"
Friends, we need to allow Christ to use us and our woundedness to redeem and heal others... and transform our own brokenness into beauty.