Something that occurred to me today as I was writing out Romans 1:17 in my planner was how glad our friends will be to get back together and to hug one another. This pandemic forces us to hold back one of our most basic human needs….touch.
Touch is
fundamental to the exploration of our world
fundamental to communicating with others
fundamental to the quality of our existence
You can’t always see what is blistering hot, but you can feel it on your fingers. You can’t see where the wind comes from or where it goes, but you can feel it caress your face.
There are very real consequences in following the social distancing guidelines. Yes, it can help protect us from contracting COVID-19, but how does it affect how we relate to others? How does it impact our own mental and emotional well-being?
In nursing school I remember learning about therapeutic touch and how providing a simple massage provides benefits that extends beyond improved circulation, joint mobility, and skin integrity. What is conveyed through touch is beyond words. Empathy, care, love can all be conveyed through touch that simply confounds our ability to explain or articulate the how and why of it. The power of touch and how we are hardwired for it, simply cannot be underestimated.
This is, of course, by design. We were created for fellowship and to live in communities. I wonder what we will learn from this? Will we appreciate the hugs we do have access to all the more? Will we adopt some of the non-touch ways of “socializing” as an extension of texting and doing things via social media? Maybe a National Hug Day will be created to remember the days we had to hold back the very thing that holds us together.
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“Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. Matthew 8:3 (NLT)
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