Do you believe in the laying on of hands? This is a Christian doctrine practiced both for conferring authority and for healing. Are there any other applications? Have you ever had anyone confide in you an experience of trauma and felt an instinctual urge to put your hand on their shoulder, or take their hand? Have you ever felt the longing for contact for yourself in a similar situation? The need for touch is deeply embedded. Your culture has rules you must follow about propriety and consent.

What are you building? Are you familiar with the scripture passage that refers to me as the chief cornerstone? This implies that I am the foundation of the building, and I establish the location and serve as a reference point for all the building that is to follow. Even with these conditions given to you this passage is an invitation to build, and an open door for a wide variety of creativity. Do you have a plan and all the building materials you need? Have you applied for a building permit? You will find that I’m generous in reviewing and approving your application.

What do you think that bravery and strength consist of? Do you think the bravest and strongest never back down? This is accepted conventional wisdom, but you may have observed from my teachings that I turned conventional wisdom upside down. I said that the first would be last, and the greater would serve the lesser. In this context, would the first one to apologize in a dispute be showing more bravery and strength than the one who was last to reconcile? Is the one who is first to value reconciliation over their own position the more courageous?

Do you think of medicine as pills produced by big pharmaceutical corporations? Have you ever been healed by something that wasn’t medicine in this narrowest sense? Then it was medicine for you. There are many dimensions for healing. Can you see how many ways you have received healing? What about being a healer yourself? In this broadest possible sense, what type of medicine do you provide for others? Let your imagination run on this to see the gifts that I have given you for healing, and be aware of them, and employ them with deliberate intention for effect.