Healer

God designed the human heart to have an incredible capacity for comebacks and second chances.

I got burned recently. It wasn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. Nevertheless, I have a huge scar that reminds me daily of life's many mysteries. It illustrates how fragile it can be, but it also demonstrates how resilient we are.

I love that this can be taken physically or metaphorically. We've all suffered both kinds of burns and they hurt in equally as damaging ways, but I'm in fact talking about a real burn in the form of stupidity and an oven.

I was babysitting and a pizza took me down. One minute everything was going fine and the next I felt unbearable heat radiate onto my right hand. My brain reacted immediately, but by then it was too late. An annoying and tingling sensation had already begun. And by the time I got home it was a full-blown, oddly shaped, battle scar. I just wish I had a cooler story.

I went through the usual routine – cold water, ice, stop the burn, a new trick "honey" for scarring and dozens of rounds of Neosporin. I had been there before and I knew it would take time to heal. All I could do is let the process begin and wait.

At the same time that I was daily nursing my scar, I began to really notice some of the people around me. They were doing things that I couldn't even imagine doing, and it reminded me of the zealous human spirit. I worked a show where a blind musician performed on the piano like she could see every key. I watched someone defy sanity and begin working the night shift all night long while the rest of us are sleeping. I saw multiple strangers offer change to someone when he didn't have enough money. It seemed everywhere I looked I encountered people doing little things for their fellow man. And most of it was going completely unnoticed.

It may not seem like those things are that big of a deal but they are, or at least I think they should be. They reminded me personally how resilient humans are and that our spirits can't be destroyed. They might get broken, but they are never down for good. We are always growing, healing, striving and reaching towards more. We are the same people that built tall buildings, learned to fly, landed on the moon and done more than ever imagined in the span of our history. Humans have a lot of problems, but we are also the heart of what makes life good.

It's been about a week and a half since the burn and my scar has come a long way. It started off looking like it was going to be really bad for a long time but now I barely recognize it from a few days ago. The skin is healing nicely and the scar is fading and I know in time it'll disappear completely. It will be whole again and new. It will no longer have any sign of damage. And it might take a little longer, but I think we are capable of exactly the same. In Christ, our scars and our wounds and are imperfections will disappear too. God designed the human heart to have an incredible capacity for comebacks and second chances. He is the ultimate healer. We too will heal and be whole again in time.

If your spirit is broken or you've suffered a burn or you just don't think you have the strength to keep going – you do! You can do extraordinary things and you are oh so very resilient. Hang in there and muster that human spirit the drives us to make life worth the pain.

And to all of you who do things that go unnoticed – a kind deed, gentle words of affirmation, acts of service, loving gestures, hard work shifts, overcoming impossible realities, forgiving those who don't deserve it, and reaching others with God's grace and mercy – we see it and we thank you. You make the world go around.

Philippians 4:13-You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.