Jesus said, “Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?” Then he said to him, “Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you”. (Luke 17: 17 – 19)

Recently, I got a call from someone I never expected to hear from again. He and I had a bad falling out  many years ago. I wasn’t sorry about what I said and did back then – I felt I had been wronged. He wasn’t sorry either and felt he had been wronged. We’d run into each other a few times since our disagreement, and we pretty much treated each other like lepers.

He was calling to ask for my help. It wasn’t a big request, but it was something I was uniquely able to help him with because I’d been through something similar. I cheerfully helped, and he was very grateful. I know that neither of us is going to apologise, but I feel like we’re reconciled now – because he made himself vulnerable to me (I think deep down he knew he could count on me) and because I responded with kindness (although, I admit, for a second I was tempted to be snippy). We’re not going to be close again, but we’ve shared a few kindly texts. If we run into each other, we won’t flinch like the other has a contagious disease.

Since then, my hard feelings about others who’ve hurt me have softened too. I didn’t realise how much one festering wound spreads to all the others. I’m happy to discover that healing spreads just as quickly too.