He split the hard rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as from the great deep. Psalm 78:15
There is something almost endearing about this teenage squabbling. I can hear my daughters from three rooms and a flight of stairs away. I have no idea what they are arguing about, but behind the “You are so mean!” and “You’re so obnoxious!” I can hear the good-natured kidding. This encounter will end in laughter rather than tears.
It is not always so. Despite, or perhaps because of, their love for one another, they can sling arrows that cause real pain. Living together, they have had to learn to communicate and negotiate, to apologize and make amends. They have encountered one another’s breaking points, and learned respect.
It is painful to watch them break each other’s hearts. It is even more painful to choose not to intervene, to allow their conflicts and injuries to be their own. Yet only if they know and own the pain can they also know and own the healing.
Out of broken rocks in the wilderness, God delivers life-giving water.
In the midst of the desperate landscape of broken hearts flows the healing power of love.
copyright © Anne E. Kitch 2013
