healing

The Lord is never in a rush.

I think he's pretty smart that way. He knows exactly what he's doing, doesn't panic and is quite prepared to take things really slowly.

Which can be a bit frustrating,of course, if you keep on asking the Lord to intervene and the time keeps marching on and there isn't a hint of any response at all from him.

At least, nothing that can be seen.

But he knows the time-frames we work to, the deadlines we have to meet.

And as often as not he waits until nearer the end of the time-frame before he takes centre stage.

Faith involves trusting that that's how it all will turn out. And most times, too, therefore, faith means being patient. Waiting.

And certainly not going too fast.

Pastoring people's a bit like that as well. It takes time.

Healing takes time. Restoring to wholeness takes time.

So the 'pastoring' I do is not like some 'whistle-stop' tour with a series of in-and-out visits to notch up impressive credentials of visiting done.

It's a relational sort of thing, rather than any merely 'formal' sort of visit. I'm not their dog-collar-clad cleric-in-the-cupboard. I'm their friend.

And friendship takes time. Trust takes time.

And healing involves a huge amount of trust.

Because part of the process involved in the healing that has to be done means becoming really very vulnerable. And that takes trust.

The sort of trust that's fashioned out of hours of genuine friendship.

I wouldn't win any prizes if it came to the number of visits made. As though each visit made was a sort of spiritual 'scalp' being gained.

To me that's close to anathema.

The kingdom of God's not like that at all.

Jesus spent time with people. He became their friends. Sat with them, ate with them. Listened to them, chatted with them, laughed with them. Shared their troubles and tears with them.

Which meant he wasn't rushing round, notching up a record number of visits. As though he was on the election trail and pressing the flesh in as many different places as he could.

I mean, that sort of thing is high on visibility, but low on relational quality.

There were loads and loads of people that Jesus didn't see or spend time with. Because of the ones he did.

Relationships need time. Because only through time does trust begin to grow. And only where there's trust does healing start to happen.

"Your faith has made you well."

Jesus used that line quite a bit. Your faith has made you well. Your trust.

That's what he needed for healing to happen. Trust me, he'd say.

Trust.

It's been a day a bit like that.

A fair bit of time with a few different folk.

Healing taking place. At least, I pray that's been the case.

It's a humbling thing to see the Lord at work in people's lives, restoring spirits which have been so cruelly shattered by the things a person's had to bear.

Sometimes way, way back in the past.

Hidden things. Things they've never dared to mention to another living soul.

And the first tentative steps to the healing they long for from God involves easing such things to the surface.

Which leaves a person feeling highly vulnerable. And involves a lot of trust.

And an awful lot of time.

But when the healing begins to happen, it's a very wonderful thing.

Seve Ballesteros has just had a third major operation on his brain.

This last one was some six hours long. Healing of any sort takes time.

And surgery of the soul is no less demanding.