Does Time Heal All Wounds?

I have heard the statement that "Time heals all wounds." I have even used it on occasion until one day when I stopped and thought about the ramifications of this statement.

Time does not heal all wounds!  Time can heal wounds of a physical nature, but what about wounds that are inflicted with the desired interest of painful, lasting jolts of insult, hurt, and the ultimate destruction of the soul.

"Surely," you may ask, "no one would deliberately hurt someone to give them lasting or permanent pain?"

Yes, we see it everyday.  My sermon this past week was called "The Big Lie" and I spoke of the way we use our words and that the old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is a lie.  Words hurt and there are those who are out there viciously hurting others with their words.

Many reasons are at the root of this attitude.  I remember a sermon I heard from one of my mentors, Jim Hackney.  He told of the children in the sand box playing together until one of them became upset at how the playing had progressed.  Ultimately all play stopped and words were slung with the savagery with the power that even adults will many times avoid.  One of the children who had a sand shovel and pale decided she/he didn't like the way things were going and so left the group vowing never to return.

We, as adults many times, do the same thing in our relationships and wounds are created and over time begin to fester and even bleed in an emotional mess.  Words can maim, wound and yes, even kill relationships and even total groups of people.

Time can't heal all those wounds.  It is impossible for them to go away, even when healed, without leaving the visible scars that torment us for the rest of our lives.  Words, used in anger, jealousy, hate, etc. are better left unspoken, because time does not heal all wounds, but scars remind us for the rest of our lives.

Be careful to choose slowness of speech as you are confronted with the situations in life that bring about the desire to sling the arrows of disgust, hatred, and anger.  Words do hurt and time can never heal all wounds.

I'll see you later!