Healing in the Damaged World by Barry Hughes

I saw this on my first walk, many months ago. I thought I had wandered into the middle of a repair job; a wild wad of wires bundled together but connected to nothing, a makeshift waterproofing with a piece of plastic, everything tied together in a way that appeared temporary. But here we are, all these walks later, and my presumed repair job was obviously already repaired. Who would assume this is the finished product? It looks a mess, but it must be working. And I suppose that’s what matters.

Over the years I have come to understand that the people who cross my path are all in various states of repair, just as I am. Some look brand new, freshly painted and shiny clean. Some look like this picture, still at loose ends and somehow holding it together. Still others are somewhere in between; a little banged up and bruised, but going about their business as usual, day after day.

This life can be tough, and as our birthdays roll past, we will all have our share of problems and needed repairs. I have come to admire those who, regardless of the damage they have sustained, keep a kind heart toward others and a gracious eye on the world. These people amaze and inspire me. For the longest time I believed that they could live such extraordinary lives because they had already been expertly repaired. Now I know that keeping a kind heart toward others and a gracious eye on the world is the means by which we are repaired.

One of the most beautiful prayers I have ever read is that attributed to St Francis of Assisi.

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

"O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life." Amen.”

Those who manage to get outside of themselves, who manage to lovingly see the damage in others even while in the midst of their own need of repair, not only help in healing the world, but find healing in their own lives. I want to be counted among those whom God uses to bring healing to this damaged world. I want to know that healing in my own broken places. How about you?

Peace.