I remember the first time I ever saw, heard and sang the hymn, How Could Anyone, from our Singing the Journey hymnal by Libby Roderick.
How could anyone ever tell you–
You were anything less than beautiful?
How could anyone ever tell you
You were less than whole?
How could anyone fail to notice–
That your loving is a miracle?
How deeply you’re connected to my soul.
It was over 15 years ago, and I can still remember how suddenly the tears filled my eyes, how I couldn’t sing because of the feelings running through my heart and body.
If we listen deeply to our bodies, they will tell us what we are carrying around. There have been monumental studies demonstrating how powerfully and accurately our bodies hold the memory of our experiences, the highest joys and the most devastating of sorrows, trauma and grief. They hold even and especially memories of events that we no longer can recall with our minds. And, they will show us if we listen deeply.
The day we first sang that song at UUCG, no particular memory came to mind for me, but the emotion and feeling certainly did. I was immediately not only resonating with what it feels like to be told that I am less than whole, but I recalled stories that others have shared with me of the same wounding messages they had received. I am afraid that it is a truth about human experience–so far–that we are wounded as we grow up, and unless we learn another way, we become those who wound others, in turn.
When we listen to our deep wounds, I think they can become a kind of spiritual radar–tuning us into the wounds in others. When our listening brings us into proximity with another wounded soul, that’s where the miracle of our loving connects us, soul to soul.
Listening to our wounds draw us close.
Loving connects us.
Healing begins.
~Bob Patrick
