Advent... Heal

In those days there appeared John the Baptist, preaching in the Wilderness (Desert) of Judea And saying, Repent (think differently; change your mind, regretting your sins and changing your conduct), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3.1-2)



I think everyone wants to feel better about something in their lives… some might dare desire healing.

It’s this way in the physical world. Sometimes the pathway to health is surgery. Sometimes the road to recovery is therapy. Surgery and therapy just don’t happen, they are very intentional.

That’s probably how it is when it comes to the heart (the “spiritual”). I find that there are a lot of things that are damaged and broken in my life. Some are self-inflicted, others are other-inflected. They mess me up, wreck my compass, knock me off balance, send me spinning. It’s the stuff that confuses my inner core of being and the confusion seeps out in my thoughts and actions.

The sad part is when I get used to living off-balance. When I allow the messed up parts of my life become the norm, making things right seems more difficult. It’s like someone who’s addicted or who lives in an abusive situation; one prefers the familiar (though destructive) over the unfamiliar (though the path to healing).

And this is what repentance is about, reflecting on the second Sunday of Advent. Anticipating Jesus’ coming and us preparing the way, preparing our hearts, aligning ourselves with the one who, with a word, realigns the center, makes things straight, calls us back, makes us whole.

Jesus’ own words to the paralytic are haunting (John 5)… “Do you want to get well?” A rather odd question to someone who is paralyzed, but the right question for us all who are paralyzed. Do I want to be well? Am I willing to walk toward the healing path of the unknown rather than stay in destructive known?

Healing.

Repentance.

Preparation.

Steps toward healing.

Me.
You.
Us.

Steps toward the Healer.

Who comes.

And asks.

“Do you want to get well?”

I think this is a daily question I need to answer.
God give me courage.