Does Time Heal All Wounds?

The news penetrated like a knife to the back.  “I’m leaving you,  Connie’s spouse shared starkly.  No warning. No humanity.  No rationale, at least in tandem with Connie’s 30+ year covenant and sacrifice for their marriage. Yet she needed to ‘suck it up,’ and traverse a sea of rejection and anger. 

Needless to say, Connie’s pain continued for many months, but then one night, as we chatted, I detected a difference.  “How are your doing with the crap,” “I’m actually doing better,” Connie replied.  “And what’s making the difference?”  “Time,” Connie said.  “Time.” 

On first blush, Connie's comment has merit; no doubt, time is involved in the healing of hurts.  But does time actually heal all wounds (in line with the popular proverb)? 

That’s a stretch, since time, in and of itself, it not a commodity with intrinsic medicinal powers.   For, from one angle, time is a neutral entity that ‘just happens,’ in the passage of minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years.

Thus, time is not an entity with functionality – but an experience we help define on the basis of our perception and actions – in partnership with God.  

However -- in partnership with God -- time can be part of the healing process -- as time can go on and create space for therapeutic outcomes -- as we are newly available, and open -- to God’s vision and movement.  

For God is moving!  Thus, we can move -- no matter the angst -- even when the bad stuff doesn’t change. 

Now let me be clear:  we pray the bad stuff (e.g. cancer, infertility, unemployment, etc.) will change and pass; this is a needed, biblical prayer.  But even if the bad stuff does not pass, life still moves on -- because God is moving -- with vigor and restorative power, able to rework any life debacle -- into a livable, doable scenario. 

In Deuteronomy 1 Moses and the Israelites are “…in the wilderness east of Jordan… (Deuteronomy 1:1) on Mt Horeb.  But clearly God doesn’t want Moses and the Israelites to stay in that dry, barren place; God wants Moses and the Israelites to keep moving.  And so God speaks through Moses:  “The Lord our God said to us at [Mt] Horeb.  You have stayed long enough at this mountain.  Break camp and advance…to the land of the Canaanites…See I have given you this land [The Promised Land].  Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers – to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…”  (Deuteronomy 1:6-8).  

And so where might you be lingering too long in the wilderness?

Hear God:  you have stayed long enough at this mountain; break camp and advance!    For even if your dilemma doesn’t pass – you can ‘pass’ -- moving with the God who is always on the move – inviting us to move as well -- entering into His Promised Land and life-flow.    

In 1869, a dynamic new song-book emerged:  “Bright Jewels For The Sunday School.”  In it was an especially bright text/tune, penned by Robert Wadsworth Lowry.  It’s title:  “How Can I Keep From Singing,” better known today as “My Life Flows On.”  Listen:

“My life flows on in endless song; Above earth's lamentation, I hear the sweet, tho' far-off hymn That hails a new creation; Thro' all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing; It finds an echo in my soul— How can I keep from singing?  

What tho' my joys and comforts die? The Lord my Saviour liveth; What tho' the darkness gather round? Songs in the night he giveth. No storm can shake my inmost calm While to that refuge clinging; Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, How can I keep from singing?

I lift my eyes; the cloud grows thin; I see the blue above it; And day by day this pathway smooths, Since first I learned to love it, The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart, A fountain ever springing; All things are mine since I am his— How can I keep from singing?”

Catherine Marshall tells of a plane trip taken by her friend Marge to Cleveland. "As she settled into her seat, Marge noticed a strange phenomenon.  On one side of the airplane a sunset [splashed] the entire sky with glorious color.  But out of the window next to her seat, all Marge could see was a sky dark and threatening, with no sign of sunset." As Marge traveled, the presence of God reminded her of both sunsets and shadows in her own life. "You see [the Lord reminded her] it doesn't matter which window you look through; this plane is still going to Cleveland.  So it is with your life.  You have a choice.  You can dwell on the gloomy picture.  Or you can focus on the bright things and leave the dark, ominous situations to Me..."  

Life will have both sunsets and shadows, for sure.  But even the most ominous entity needn’t stop us, for God’s truth is marching on, cutting through the darkest density of life.  

But we must discipline our attention, fixing our eyes on God’s certainty – as we move with Him – even if our particular circumstance doesn’t change – lifted by God’s victory, that surpasses everything -- even our most threatening days.