An Open Wound of Love

I visit parishioners in care facilities, like this one on Sand Creek Highway.  I saw a man and a woman there today.  The woman was asleep so I simply sat at her bedside for a time.  I call these Quaker Visits since they involve sitting in contemplative silence, praying for the person.  The only personal item in her room, or rather in her part of the room, was a framed photo of her and her husband; in it she wore a purple dress.  He lives nearby in a retirement community, where I have seen him.  He loves her dearly and visits her every day.  As I sat in the wheelchair at her bed, I thought of a quote from Richard Foster: “The heart of God is an open wound of love.”  I wondered if when our hearts become tender, open, wounded with longing, then we make fresh contact with the very life of God.