“If you want the doctor’s help, you must reveal the wound”
– Boethius
Some of the deepest wounds are not marked on our bodies but in our hearts. We tuck away our disordered emotions into our inner-life until they explode into our outer-life. When we blow up and so probably speak rashly, we cut others to pieces:
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts. (Prov 12:18a)
And when we wound others, we hurt ourselves.
The wicked are filled with trouble (Prov 12:21)
And yet: when we speak without rashness and confide in a close friend, we find gladness and healing:
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. (Prov 12:25)
The tongue of the wise brings healing. (Prov 12:18b)
Although Proverbs 12 does not make this exact point, “a good word” or the “The tongue of the wise” will generally come to a wounded person, when that person reveals the wound to a friend.
“If you want the doctor’s help,” writes Boethius in the voice of Wisdom, “you must reveal the wound.”
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