Everyone suffers wounds in the course of life, and not all are physical injuries. How do you handle yours? You have seen people defeated and embittered by the things they have suffered. Yet have you also seen people ennobled by their wounds? Do you know of anyone of noble character that hasn’t suffered to get there? So your response to your wounds makes a difference in the way they affect you. It is not too much to say that they can become sacred wounds. What effect do your wounds have on you? Do you have access to and apply a means for turning ordinary wounds into sacred wounds?

Do you associate with sinners? You could argue this point both ways from scriptures, and many positions in between. Come out from among them and be ye separate. But you are also to let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify me. Paul taught to make a distinction between those who identified as believers and those who did not. So is there a tension between maintaining purity in association and coming into contact with those who need the message you have? What example do you see in my life? Did I avoid contact with outsiders?

Do you think of me as a father? This image was common even during my time when my disciples asked me to show them the Father. This could be a favorable image for you or not depending on the relationship you had with your own father. I told my disciples that if they had seen me they had seen the Father, but I went beyond the conventional understanding of this concept by introducing the word Abba. This term for father elevated the concept to a higher level of intimacy. Have you heard me described in terms that are distant, austere, harsh, judgmental, and indifferent?

Do you like the liberty to choose the practice of your faith? Do you exercise it carefully, in the faith tradition you choose and the denomination and church within that tradition? Do you see this as being your choice? Does your history of liberty make it hard for you to address the question of whether you chose me or were chosen by me? This is something that could be argued either way from the scriptures. What is your perception of the practice of your faith on a daily basis? Are you choosing it, making the path as you walk it, or are you being led by a power greater than yourself?