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Such is a story of mine... The bent over woman’s story from Luke 15 fascinated me and I wanted to learn about this woman who could not raise herself up for 18 long years, who was shunned by society and not even given a name but was known only for her infirmity. To relate her story at a retreat I walked slowly around their circle.
They saw me dressed in drab, ragged clothes, wearing shoes with holes, my hair in disarray. I know not how, but it seemed as though she and I became one. The feelings were beyond imagining when the realization dawned on me that the only thing one sees when bent over is from ones knees down: legs, ankles, feet, shoes, the dirty ground. There was no sunshine, no eye contact, no facial expression, no connection with anyone; it was lonely, very lonely, dark, scary, disorienting, demeaning, isolating.
I attempted to share these feelings with those present and asked them to consider how they were connecting with this woman, how would they communicate with her, with a nobody who was shunned by society. I anticipated a long silence as people struggled with how to respond. But in a split second, with no hesitation, a woman knelt before me, gently took my face in her hands and raised my face to hers as we met eye to eye (even now, her name and face are still very real to me). She raised me up! It seemed as though through her; it was a resurrection moment for the bent over woman and for me.
Reflections:
• Is there an experience you remember when you had some of the same feelings as the bent over woman… lonely, afraid, in the dark, scared, disoriented or isolated?
• Who or what was there to be “with” you, to raise you up? Could you now name this as a Life-Giving Resurrection experience?
• What Life-Giving experiences have you experienced or observed?
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