Wounds and Love

Hello All,

Have you been wounded by someone’s words and actions?

Are there wounds that have left scars in your heart and some that are still bleeding?

  

Wounds and Love

By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling

Dedicated to a dear friend for inspiring the poem

Are there wounds that run too deep?

Would those wounds completely heal?

Your courage you try to keep

Your bleeding wounds you conceal

You've opened your heart to love

But your heart keeps getting hurt

'Should I hide my heart in a glove?'

'Why invest my heart and effort?'

'Should I protect my heart with walls?'

'Keep myself safe from great pain?'

Suffering came after the Fall

We get hurt again and again

Christ opened His heart to us

We've spurned Him again and again

His love was deep and courageous

On the cross, He bore our pain

It's the cross that gives us courage

To break down our protective walls

To free our hearts from their cage

God's love causes walls to fall

God's love invigorates our hearts

We love others with His love

It is God's love we impart

Divine love that comes from above

I may hurt you; you may hurt me

But I'll still love you, my friend

God's love resides within me

A love that knows no time and end

Points for Reflection:

We love because God first loved us.

(1 John 4:19 ESV)

·       Opening your heart to someone – a spouse, family member, or friend – requires courage. Doing so may have left you wounded and afraid to open your heart to anyone again. ‘Never again!’ are the words that many have sworn to themselves.

·       If you can feel the intensity of the pain that reeks from the wounds in your heart, have you ever thought of the pain that Christ endured out of His love for sinners who spurned Him and spat on Him with contempt? Sinners like us who continually reject Him as the Lord of our lives. Sinners who seek ultimate satisfaction in someone or something else instead of in Him.

·       But the cross gives us the courage to break down our protective walls and free our hearts from their cage. God's love causes walls between us to fall. The cross gives us the courage to open our hearts and be vulnerable with others.

·       Opening our hearts to other sinners hurts. We hurt others and others hurt us because we are unable to love perfectly. But God loves us perfectly. And even if the whole world turns against us, we know that His love stands true.

·       We love others because He first loved us.