Resolution

"you repent not by feeling bad but by thinking differently" ~Rudy Wiebe

It is the second week of Advent- my favorite season- liturgically and weather wise. This is the time of the year when the snow is supposed to blanket the earth, to wrap the land in a shawl of white. There is something holy in being surrounded and protected by such a cold element.

Advent is a time in which reconciliation doesn't get much play- but I think (and many would agree) that reconciliation plays an incredible part in the spirit and movement of the season. On my walk to work this morning I was recalling a time when I was in college and one of my best friends had hurt me and I had called him out. He apologized in a very sincere manner, and then very abruptly he clapped his hands together and cried out, "Let the healing begin!!" Needless to say it was not this big pivotal healing moment that I expected once he had made such an announcement.

On my walk I was thinking about how it is so much easier to be patient when external "owies" are being healed. We know not to pick at the scab. We know that there needs to be a balance of air and moisture to promote the right amount of protection on the scab. But when the hurt is internal it is much harder to gauge about how to allow the healing to take place. It is a delicate process. Not enough care leaves a person brittle, easily broken and unyielding. Too much care leaves a person a puddle of goo.

This is one of the profound measures we can find in this season of Advent. There is a need for honest reflection on hurts and misunderstandings, there is time to closeup wounds left open, there is a need to allow mends to be made.

Call it what you want, resolution, healing, reconciliation- I call it holy.

Peace and patience to you.