I used to live in the oldest part of the city, which was full of charm and uneven brick walkways and a maze of one-way streets. One day I went down to the basement and instead of landing on the floor, I landed in a puddle. After a lot of investigation we found a cast-iron pipe from the late 1800s, which had been mended with duct tape and sealed up behind a closet wall. Surprisingly, this repair had held for over ten years. Not surprisingly, it ultimately failed, in a very big way.

This very expensive repair set me out to learn about healing, and in my small research project I learned that scar tissue has some parallels to duct tape:  it forms quickly, with fibers that sit all in one direction, instead of the cris-crossing that is present in regular tissue. It’s these elements that make scar tissue less flexible and limited in motion, which often causes future pain.

Friends, this has been a hard time. It’s the kind of time when our most uniting experience is grief. It’s tempting to cover up the breaks and close the basement door.

Or, we could take some time. Call some experts, instead of pulling out the duct tape.

Invest in our own future.