Trinity and Humanity

A couple of years ago I built a forge in our back yard. I wanted to have a shelter over the area where I do my blacksmithing and I really wanted to do most of the work by hand… the way things were done in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. So I chopped down a tree in my yard and set out with a broad axe and an adze to hew two large beams to be the main supports for my shelter. The beams were 18 feet long 5 inches wide and 10 inches tall. It was a lot of work.

During the course of chopping out the beams, I injured myself a bit. I felt a slight discomfort in my right knee and thought little of it. A few days later, I knelt down and was nearly unable to get up. The pain was intense and I wound up seeing a doctor about it only to find out that I had injured something called the iliotibial band. It is just a ligament or something that passes over the knee. Had I not discovered the extent of the injury and followed a physical therapy regimen right away the injury could have become more severe and maybe even permanent.

Kneeling down days after the injury aggravated my wound and sent a very powerful message to my brain, “Something is wrong… something is wounded.” You see poking the wound let me know that there was a need for healing.

Well a good friend of mine recently had a similar experience. He was hanging out with a group friends and people he generally admired. During the course of the day someone said something that was quite innocent but it caused him great emotional pain. He was hurt and a bit angry. After talking it over with one of his buddies, he decided to go talk to the offending person about the incident.

The person who had offended him was older and wiser so my friend’s expectations that the conversation would go well were fairly high. After hearing him out the older wiser man said, “I poked a wound didn’t I?” My friend was a little surprised and what followed was an apology and a lengthy discussion of the deeper issue and what might be necessary for healing. It was beautiful!

Hebrews 12:15 tells us to avoid the bitter roots that can grow deep and cause us years and maybe even a lifetime of pain. When a tree is but a seedling, it is easy to pluck it from the ground. Once the tree is left to grow for only a year or two, more effort will be required to remove it. If we let the tree grow for decades, professional help may be required to extract the tree that has now put down roots dozens of feet deep into the ground.

Our souls are much like this. Some things we want to grow deep such as the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ or the love in our marriages and families. Bitter roots can only do great harm and must be plucked as soon as we are aware of them. You see the Father, Son, and Spirit want so much more for us than to be hobbled by bitter-root wounds and pain.

So if someone inadvertently touches a wound in you I sincerely hope there will be a person there to help you see that this is not always a bad thing. Sometimes Holy Spirit will send someone to poke our wounds to remind us that they are still there and need the gentle healing that only the Father, Son, and Spirit can give.

~Bill Winn