When healing takes time...

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:12
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A week ago I injured my right eye. Although what seemed as something simple, by Monday I had lost my vision in the eye. Two trips, including one to the ER and the other an opthomologist, a week later I am wearing an eye patch and I am still struggling to keep drops and ointments going on a schedule for optimun healing.

About three am this morning I got up and for a moment I could make out the outline of the nightlight. I am learning that this healing will take time. It has caused me to miss work, to cancel meetings, and simply to withdraw.

This morning is the first attempt I have made to actually write. When your day starts with a time for prayer, reflection and writing, and suddenly you aren't able to do that, then the whole day seems to be amiss.

I'm used to being with folks who have found that their loss of personal control is a daily reminder that their life is about surrendering.

Time and time again I have heard people say that patience is learned by living within God's timing. The healing process at this point has become my lesson.

So much of the time my prayers are often focused on others. Over the last two days I have to admit the words I have lifted have had a lot more to do with my own healing.

While God desires for us to love our neighbors, I have become acutely aware that this can only happen when I love myself enough to share my own need for healing. It is true, we must love and care for ourselves first, in order to be able to care and love others.

For any of us, each day often involves something that we must surrender. Some just seem to do it with more grace than others!

After a week of seeing things "dimly," I am praying for clarity. Through this whole process perhaps the greatest lesson is to allow for God's healing while remaining in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018