Stem Cell Christians

Stem Cell Christians

Have you ever noticed that some people can seemingly fold into a conversation with the hurting and almost instantly become one with them?  Have you had this happen to you, have you seen the value in a friend when it took place for them?  Have you wished to be able to do this as easily and wondered at the reasons why you cannot.  Have you considered the things that take place, evidently beyond any planning and thought, that allow it to be so fluid and smooth and to be as completely effective as it is?  As well, I am certain the plastic and shallow attempts that repel and fall short are as equally strong in your memories.  So it is that we are to ask “why” and “If so, can I learn?”

What would be the steps to know this? What are the parts of these people that I am missing and is it something that can be acquired, learned, taught, understood, imputed, or given? What does that process look like?  From where are we to begin?

To begin with an understanding of what it is we are talking about is the best I suppose, so it is that which I will try to illustrate.  From my own experiences I have seen individuals that have walked into a room of people that they would otherwise have no understanding of the story but a clear understanding of pain, and then go to the wounded and embrace them with a cloak of acceptance and grace that disarms and releases the hurting in a way that catches them by surprise.  Challenged to accept acceptance, they then embrace in return and melt into one with the giver.  It is there for all in the room to see and to be humbled by the fact that there was a need all the while and it went unmet, until this person came in.  For some, the realization that there was a visceral need was hidden until it was shown at the point that it was met.  There is no malice in this, merely a complete unawareness that there was a need.  Perhaps an inability to meet it is the second part, once it was made known, but even this is not a blight on them, no different than my inability to do high math or to lift large stones would be, but simply the inability of me to accomplish it.  To the observers and the receiver as well, they will never be the same.  The observers will have seen the transformation of the wounded as almost a miracle performed in their presence, and to the burdened the release will come as a splendid cool spring breeze laced with lilac. Distinct and clear they are aware that “something” was removed, and something given, they just didn’t realize how powerful the transfer could be. “Like apples of gold in settings of silver, is a word fitly spoken”, so too a hug with no word at all. 

Sometimes the thing most noticed is the thing not done, so too when your need is so great and your companions so shallow as to not know.  This is a desert of great breadth, when you are encompassed by those incapable of understanding.  To be in such a place is all the more a powerful thing when from a place unexpected comes the relief, for it brings surprise as well.  Or did you not tell them?  There is no help given to no need shown, so we must do our part as well. There is relief in letting go of the “secret” of our pain. The price of friendship is vulnerability.  No friends, means you are not vulnerable, many or deep friends means you are vulnerable.  This cannot be any other way.  To have friends is to have been a friend or at least to have shown friendliness to be available for the taking.  In a relationship there are two things that make this happen.  Time or crisis.

 One will show your value through many times and circumstances as to how you will perform and prove your character to the observer.  The other is to rise to a level of action revealing your merit in a way that any other circumstance would have never have brought out.  Standing when others walk away, comforting when other hurl insult and derision, giving when others take.  These are the times that reveal and display for all that see what cannot be attained by the shallow and the brutish.  So again it is to ask what is it that makes up this person.

Unless you become as one of these children…  The question is one of boundaries, I guess.  If you are comprised of rigid and unyielding boundaries you will present this wherever you go.  If you are spineless and have no boundaries this too will be evident and is in no way that which transcends. So what is it, that is part and parcel to becoming a value and a benediction to those we come in contact with?  What is it about the timing that says “on this day” it was what I needed?  When asked to become “one of these…” we are to emulate the ability to be complete and un-needy, to be as accepting and un-judging as a child.  This is not to be confused with undiscerning, for children are very aware of duplicity, but to be accepting of the wounded is very real to them.  Finding that the child-like behavior is not unlike the acceptance of a family dog that has seen many days with you, there is an ability to be fully engaged with the hurting that drives the relationship deeper, and the intensity and the freshness of the moment comes out.  But still the question of what is it that makes this happen, and is it a volitional act, or spontaneous? 

The answer to the last question is yes, because in some instances it is not even a thought to act but the act itself takes place.  At times it is a choice to move, and then to the degree that you go deep within, it allows you to match that with action.  There is a place within us that is to be understood as follows.  The newest research shows how Stem cells can be put into a mold and as they grow they become what is the shape they are presented.  Not that they “act like” the shape, but rather “become” that shape.  So if it is a stomach, they become the stomach, or the liver or whatever it is they need to become.  In much the same manner the “stem cell” Christian will become the wounded when they get there, and they don’t “act like” the wounded, trying to understand, they really “become” the wounded.

 This is about how vulnerable and or transparent you are capable of becoming.  It is about the rigidness of the boundaries that we create and the ability to permeate them.  For instance, a rock filled jar will prevent your hand from diving in, but will allow the water to run over it and through it completely.  A filter in your furnace or car is the same, it keeps specific items out, so too, will certain people be kept at bay while others will get to the very center and completely through and the first group are left wondering how or why… and may never find that answer.  So it comes to the ability to determine to whom we can penetrate, and to whom are we repellent.  Who will we not allow to penetrate our boundaries and who will we welcome to the very center of our being?  Why? Can the list change?  How and, what would bring that about? “Do I want to?”, and “am I willing to?”, are different points on the same stick, as well…  So, “Do you?”… “Will you?”