During prenatal development, an unborn child is enclosed within a space that gently surrounds it on every side. The baby does not yet understand where it is, but it feels the warmth of touch, comfort, and peace within its little shelter.
After birth, the child is taken into loving arms and gently held against the chest. Warm hands stroke the baby’s head, and this little person is kissed from head to toe. The baby calms down and very carefully stores within its memory all the pleasant experiences that fill its little heart and bring peace.
Receiving nourishment from the mother is accompanied by the tender touch of her hands, her wonderful scent, and the taste of that water of life which is so pleasant to draw in while listening to the sound of her quiet voice. Throughout all this, you are held in the loving embrace of love as your little body remains in someone’s arms for a long time. It usually ends with the well-fed child falling asleep in that tender embrace, after which the baby may continue to be held or be placed in a crib nearby.
A person grows and experiences many different events in which he often needs the support of his parents, their tender embraces and gentle touch combined with kind words.
As a person matures, new interests enter life, displacing the language of touch and offering many new sensations. Yet somewhere in the subconscious remains the memory of how good it felt to be held in the warm, gentle arms of one’s parents. But the parents now consider you grown and no longer want to pick you up without a reason. In this situation, stuffed animals are very helpful; it is so pleasant to press them to your cheek and embrace them while sleeping. But gradually this also passes. Older children are not supposed to take toys to bed or seek a cozy place on their mother’s lap.
The years pass, but the memory remains. Our subconscious very carefully preserves every kind feeling and experience that brought us warmth, safety, and emotional satisfaction. If all this were removed from us, we would cease to be human. We cannot travel very far on bare principle or enthusiasm alone.
I tried to imagine the Second Coming of Christ. All my deceased friends are resurrected, the living righteous gather from every corner of the Earth, and all of us receive new incorruptible bodies and rise together to one place, where the loving Jesus meets us. Angels bustle around us, reuniting us with our relatives and friends and bringing lost children to their mothers. We recognize one another in our new appearance. And how do you think we will express our joy at this wonderful reunion? I can imagine nothing other than the strong embraces of love in which we will enfold one another and then pass them on to the newly arriving saints. We will begin calling out to all our acquaintances and friends, who will be searching for familiar faces amid the universal rejoicing, so that we can open our tender arms to the souls dear to our hearts. And those to whom we were very precious will not want to release us from their arms and, in their joy, will hold us tightly.
The embraces of love will accomplish their good work, and not one person who has been given immortality will remain insufficiently embraced.
Then it will be the turn of the modest angels who, after reuniting us with our friends, quietly step aside to watch our happiness with joy. At some point in expressing our love, we will notice these thirsting souls as well and rush toward them together to enfold all of them in our friendly embraces. A tremendous noise and clamor, laughter and exclamations will rise upon the clouds, while our dear Savior looks upon us with satisfaction, expressed in a broad smile upon His beautiful face.
The following question arises: Is it worth waiting for all these events in order to experience the happiness of love’s embrace? Perhaps we should create a celebration ourselves and find those whom we can remind of this wonderful expression of love, which, although forgotten, is very familiar to everyone.
At one gathering of friends from our School, an unspoken decision was made to practice giving hugs. We call them Vitamin ‘H.’ Many of those present had their own views about this activity, and some found it difficult to take the first step and embrace a friend. But it happened. A pathway to kind childhood memories was opened. Some of the sisters took this soul-gladdening practice so much to heart that they decided to spend their free time in one another’s tender embrace. Most interestingly, these prolonged embraces became like a healing balm for the soul. It was so joyful to hear people say that we were not on Earth but somewhere in Heaven. It was fascinating to observe the changes in the worldview of those who entered the embrace of love and gained new experiences, reviving the earliest lessons of love from their memories.
How pleasant it is to look at friends who, holding one another closely, listen with interest to what is happening around them without trying to escape their friend’s loving embrace, while giving their friend those same feelings in return.
Such embraces carry a deep healing power for the soul. A person comes into harmony with the love placed within him, which he can both give and receive. A circulation of love takes place within the nature of my heart.
Considering how pleasant it was to observe friends holding one another closely, I can imagine how much joy those friends themselves experienced.
An embrace has an interesting quality: you feel another person’s heart and can give that person your own heart. Any dislike or rejection is immediately conveyed to you through your friend’s arms. There can be no coercion in an embrace. It is one of the open expressions of free will. People experiencing something like this for the first time may feel a little shy and then, after thinking everything through, decide whether it should continue. It is important to respect the choice of those who decide that it is not for them and not attempt to act against their will.
It should also be taken into account that embracing a person of the opposite sex may cause ambiguous feelings and sensations that are unacceptable within Christian ethics. Therefore, everything must be proper and appropriate to the place, customs, culture, and circumstances.
Although touch is not every person’s love language, each of us carries within the subconscious the first lessons of tenderness received in early childhood. A reminder of those experiences will bring many under-embraced people only benefit and healing from many emotional wounds.
I remember one person whom I decided to greet with an embrace. It turned out that I was the first and only person who dared to do so. How deeply his heart needed it! And during the following days of our meeting, he did not hide that need.
People who have not received enough embraces are very easy to identify. Hold them close to your heart a couple of times, and afterward they will always greet you with open arms. Such people surround us everywhere. They will never be the first to ask for an embrace, but subconsciously they are waiting for someone who will take the first step.
My arms can become God’s arms, through which He can heal the bodies and souls of those whom I meet and encounter. Laying loving hands upon someone while offering a prayer of blessing can become a channel through which healing Power from above is transmitted. Jesus very much desires to embrace you with my arms, my friend.
Bible Verses for Reflection
Isaiah 46:3–4; Luke 15:20; Mark 1:30–31; 10:13–16; Genesis 29:10–14; 45:15; 48:8–10; Ruth 4:16; Psalm 91:11–12; Ecclesiastes 3:5; Song of Solomon 2:5–6; Isaiah 49:22; 54:5–7; 66:12–13; Hosea 11:3; Romans 12:9–10; 1 Corinthians 13:1–3.