Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.’ (Hosea 6: 1-3)

We are torn apart from one another and from God. Many of us are struck down. We suffer physical, psychological, and spiritual hurts.

Hosea perceives God's tough love drawing us away from evil and toward the good. I join the author of Ecclesiastes in seeing that "time and chance happen to all."

But whatever the cause of hurt, God provides healing, binding, rejoining, and is the source and cause of rejoicing. I press on to know God.

I am far from any sort of Darfur. My suffering is light. The hurt that wracks me is, mostly, of my own creation... often of my own imagining.

My blessings are many, very much as a spring shower. Too often I neglect the showers and form within myself a desert of despair.

Help me God to open myself to your love and care.