A good friend of mine was cleaning out his car. As he reached under one of the seats, a plastic fork pierced his hand. Like most guys, he simply wiped off the blood and kept working. Once he finished, he went inside and washed his hands, thinking nothing more of it.
After the long weekend was over, he went back to work. At one point during the day, he picked up a sledgehammer, ready to swing it, when an intense pain shot through his hand and arm. He pulled off his glove and noticed his fingers were beginning to swell. Before long, the swelling consumed his entire hand and began creeping up his arm. Alarmed, he called his wife, and together they went to the emergency room.
After examining his hand, the doctors told him he would need emergency surgery. The wound had become infected. They said if he had waited another day, he likely would have lost some fingers—and maybe even his entire hand.
Some wounds are not just physical. They are emotional, sometimes even spiritual. They strike us at the heart level. They don’t just break the skin. They pierce something much deeper. These wounds rip through the fabric of our soul.
And the hardest truth is that we are often wounded by the people closest to us. By those we trusted most. By those we let into the most vulnerable parts of our lives.
When these kinds of wounds happen, it’s tempting to do what my friend did—wipe it off, shake it off, move on as if it didn’t really happen. We tell ourselves we’re fine. We cover it with busyness. We distract ourselves with noise. We try to bury it deep, convincing ourselves it won’t affect us.
But ignored wounds don’t disappear. They fester. They spread. They infect more and more of our lives until the pain becomes impossible to ignore. And if left unaddressed, they will cost us far more than we realize.
The only way forward is to acknowledge the wound. To face it honestly. And offer it to the Divine healer. Because healing never happens through denial. Healing begins when we stop pretending and finally let God mend what hurts.
We all carry wounds. Some are fresh, some are old. Some we’ve tried to ignore for years. But the invitation is always the same. Don’t wait until it consumes you. Don’t wait until it takes more than it already has.
Bring it into the light. Name it. Grieve it. Hand it over.
Question
What wound have you been ignoring that you need to bring into the light and hand over?
Peace,
Brandon
Name it. Grieve it. Hand it over. Beautiful.