When I was a kid, recess meant swinging on the bars and rings on the playground. I loved that almost “flying” feeling of having my feet off the ground and swinging my legs in such a way that it would propel me to be able to reach the next bar or ring. And to be honest, I was really, really good at it. I could skip bars and rings. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the full extent of my athletic career. (I later tried track and soon realized that legs swinging in the air is a much different thing than legs bearing weight on the ground. 🙂 )
All of those hours in the air left me with open, painful blisters on the palms of my hands that later led to tough calluses that never fully went away.
I was talking with my friend, Becky, yesterday about how life and relationships can leave us with the damage of open “blisters” – painful and frustrating. How we need to heal and develop a thicker skin without becoming “callused”. To create boundaries without building walls. To stay soft, but be strong.
When I was a kid, I would sometimes put a bandaid on my blisters to protect them from getting bumped or infected. It was a good start, but it didn’t prevent the calluses that came from ignoring the blisters once the skin had grown back together. I could have avoided the problem all together by never again going on the bars or rings. But that wasn’t gonna happen. I loved the bars and rings. I was willing to risk my hands hurting again and again.
I needed the thick skin of protection without the roughness of a callus. I should have used some type of salve or ointment to retain the softness while allowing the thickness to protect me. Being a kid, I didn’t see the need or the value of that. But when I feel the tough little patches of skin at the base of each of my fingers on the palm of my hand, I wish I would have.
We can avoid the “rings and bars” of life. Protect our hearts from people that could potentially bring us pain. But then we’d miss the “flying” sensation that comes with sharing our hearts with another person and letting them share theirs with us. We could run away from situations that look difficult, too “high off the ground” for stable footing. But then we’d miss the freedom that comes from reaching for the next bar or ring.
If we are interactive in the “recess” of life, we are going to get some blisters. If we are involved in life and with people at all that is unavoidable. But it IS possible to develop a thicker skin without forming calluses of hardness around our hearts. The creams and ointments of prayer, honest conversations, and inward observation can help create healthy boundaries instead of harmful walls.
And the next time we go out, we’ll be able to swing a little bit further and a little more freely because the blisters have healed well, with a thickness to protect and remind us of what we have learned along the way.
Matthew 10:16 – I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
James 1:2-4 – Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
