“The wish for healing has ever been the half of health.”

– Hippolytus

Today I awoke with a pain in my foot.  It doesn’t keep me from walking, but it holds my attention and makes me walk a little bit more gingerly than I do on most mornings.  It reminds me of the time, ten years ago, when I fell and broke some tiny bones in that spot; and my first thought is that it’s probably a twinge of arthritis at the site of the old injury.  These things are to be expected, I suppose.  After all, being human means being vulnerable to pain.  I am distracted by the ache in my foot; and it seems that no matter how I try to ignore it, this twinge will be my companion today.  Each time my right foot hits the ground, I am aware of a feeling of resentment that I should have to suffer such an indignity.  It will be a challenge not to let it color my day.

In a message yesterday, I heard of a woman who had broken her foot.  Certainly her pain is greater than mine today; and when I consider the contrast, I feel embarrassed to consider my own aches worth mentioning.  My daughter is recovering from surgery on her knee.  Perhaps the woman with a small broken bone should put her pain aside and consider that my daughter’s traumatized leg is far more painful than her foot.  Then there is my little friend who lies in a hospital bed and endures for days on end the indignities and pain of her healing.  Should my daughter feel foolish to think that her knee pain is worth mentioning?

Maybe what my foot is here to remind me of today is that every person we meet has pain of one sort or another.  Perhaps the family of the little girl in the hospital should feel thankful when they hear of the friend who spent the weekend mourning her lost son.  Perhaps my daughter should consider her healing pain in juxtaposition to the pain of the family of her tissue donor.

We never know, when we meet another person, just what sort of pain they might be carrying with them.  An old proverb states, “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”  We cannot remove pain from the world — it is part of being alive.  We can, however, choose to diminish the suffering that goes along with pain.  Compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, and love are the tools we can bring to a pain-filled world.  If each of us can remember today that every person we meet has some sort of pain, perhaps we can be messengers of healing and light to those who suffer.

Today I will be thankful for the tiny pain in my foot.  It will remind me to take the time to look beyond myself and see the hurt that others feel as well.  Whatever your ache might be today, allow yourself to keep suffering at bay.  Together we can transform pain into healing.