Taking the Time to Heal

Claire McGarry encourages her son to take the necessary time to heal physically from an injury, as we should do when we’ve been hurt emotionally.

My oldest son, Zack, is a freshman in college in northern New Hampshire. His school has an annual tradition of canceling classes one day each winter so everyone can go skiing—students and professors together. Last week was ski day for Zack!

He chose to snowboard because he took a handful of lessons to learn how. But those lessons were six years ago! You don’t necessarily pick up where you left off, like riding a bike. That being said, he had a great day—until the very last run. He took a fall and landed all of his body weight on his wrist. The pain and discomfort had him going to the nurse the next day.

She diagnosed it as a sprain and gave him a splint. The problem is: Zack’s absolute favorite thing to do is to lift weights. Some days, he spends as much as three hours at the gym curling dumbbells and doing whatever else weight-lifters do.

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I predict this isn’t going to go well. The Zack I know is impatient. He’ll be tossing out that splint too soon and over-extending his wrist with heavy weights before it’s properly healed.

We all have phases in our lives that are similar. Our circumstances knock us down, bruising our hearts and souls. We know enough to go to the Divine Healer, letting him wrap us up in His grace, letting His comfort and care support us where we’ve been bent too far.

But are we like Zack—too impatient to stay in His protective grip? Too independent to allow Him to continue to nurture us while our wounds heal?

Click to tweet:
It’s not selfish to take time to recuperate. It’s how we pour out love from a heart that’s fully healed and whole. #CatholicMom

I explained to Zack that if he doesn’t follow the nurse’s orders, his wrist won’t heal fully and properly. It will hamper his weight-lifting abilities for a long time to come.

The same holds true for us. If we don’t spend the time we need with God to fully and properly work through our setbacks, the bruises and cuts will remain, and our families will feel the repercussions.

What they need most is for us to be healthy and healed so we can be the best mothers possible. It’s not selfish to take the time we need to recuperate. It’s actually the best gift we can give them so we’re able to pour out love from a heart that’s fully healed and whole.

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