A friend recently shared this with me about wounds. An open wound that is re-injured cannot heal. It takes time, attention, and a Good Physician to heal it. Often times I run around with open wounds, believing them to be scars. So when people prod and poke them, I am surprised that I bleed. My friend said we need to tell the truth about our wounds, and nurture them accordingly. The reason I believe France still hurts is that it’s an open wound still, sometimes festering, sometimes struggling to heal.

In a difficult relationship, it’s important to protect your wound, to isolate it from further injury. The best thing you can do for the person injuring you and your own wound is to take a breather, to set up a perimeter around your wound much like the police set up a perimeter around a crime scene. Give that wound some space, and protect it from contamination. Some may think this is heartless. By isolating yourself from the one who injured you, you’re being “mean” to that person. No, it’s actually a loving act. Because of two things:

1. You are not loving someone well when you allow him/her to injure others (including yourself). Don’t you want what’s best for the other person? Then, don’t allow him/her to violate, at least in your case.
2. If you have adequate time to heal, your wound will become a scar. You will now be able to interact with the person who injured because the wound is no longer fresh. So isolating for a time is actually beneficial in the long run.