TO WOUND TO HEAL

Allow me to glaze for a bit.

A few months ago when I tagged along on a mission trip to the mountains, along came with us a doctor with his wife. A quiet couple, but a curious one to say the least. I wanted to hold my curiosity until I see them in action, but when the doctor opened his bag to prepare for his first patient, I realized, this is gonna be interesting.

Needles, lots of them! I’m gonna be seeing acupuncture done on the field! And when he was done with his first patient, I was amazed. Now I rarely get starstruck, but when I do it’s usually towards people who are good at what they do, and are quiet about it. Those with a gleam of confidence in their eyes, and a smile of satisfaction after the work is done. He confirms with his patient using his confidently broken tagalog, and when he sees his patient smile, he smiles back, a gentle smile of joy.

We went to multiple locations that day. In each one he seemed to gravitate towards the one that needed help the most. I recall he would treat one in each location, two at the most. Was he effective? Ahh, it is something you’d have to see to believe.

Thinking about how he treated his patients that day, I try to understand even in a shallow kind of way, that the concept of acupuncture is a kind of wounding of the body. An educated and targeted puncture that destroys a blockage and allows elements of the body to flow freely again. This physical concept translates similarly to our emotional lifestyle. A little blockage like hate, envy, pride, and especially unforgivenes, causes our spiritual flow to bog down. We may look good outside, but inside we are slowly grinding to a halt, a sort of spiritual stagnation. We may need a little hurt that sets us free, but it has to hurt.

It was a short and sweet mission that day, seeing this doctor in action was one of the highlights. Every frown was turned into a smile. And every time he smiled back, he would remind them, that the one who really healed them, was Jesus.

More photos in the gallery below.