Baby Emerald was injured this week. As Birgitta and I were bent over an old photo album with her sitting between us, in a flash she’d stuck her finger in a Coke can and sliced it on the opening. Birgitta tried to hold a Kleenex on her tiny finger, but Emerald was quick to yank it away, and blood began dotting the clothes on both of them.

To speed the clotting process, we chipped some ice and put it in a baggie, but holding it next to her petite finger proved impossible. The only thing to do was bandage it tight, despite the smallest Band-Aid being far too big. As the bleeding continued, we taped two fingers together, placing one bandage over the tops and another around the knuckles, but immediately Emerald put both fingers in her mouth. Choking on a bandage would only compound our problems.

We decided to put Emerald in her front pack and take a walk while Birgitta held onto her hand, giving the wound a chance to seal. But every so often she’d yank it away and shove her fingers into her mouth. Her powerful baby-sucking, even for a few seconds, increased the bleeding, and her Band-Aids quickly soaked with fresh blood.

Our last idea was to find a shirt that was too big for her, pull the sleeve over her hand, and pin it closed. But as we watched, the sleeve and safety pin went right to her mouth. Choking on a pin would be even worse than on a Band-Aid.

Meanwhile Emerald kept bleeding. So I got my sewing kit, and while Birgitta held her injured hand tightly, I stitched across the end of her sleeve. She immediately put the whole thing in her mouth, but after we insisted she suck her pacifier instead of her shirt, the bleeding finally stopped.

Neither of us would ever hurt Emerald intentionally, and seeing her bright blood on the tissues and clothing caused great alarm. Yet there we were, mopping up after she’d been injured in our care.

Bleeding fingers have much in common with bleeding hearts. We try to live uprightly, but then something happens that makes us “bleed.” We hurt badly and desperately want the pain to stop, so we try all kinds of remedies: surrounding ourselves with people, or isolating ourselves; going on a shopping spree, or being unwilling to leave the house; eating too much, or not eating enough; refusing to face our pain, or thinking of nothing else.

But do we take advantage of the best way to stop a bleeding heart? Right after the injury we should pour our pain out to the heavenly Father, because his healing power trumps anything we could do on our own.

As for Emerald, we removed the shirt and Band-Aids at bedtime, and healing had begun. Of course we all know who was the One behind that.

“The people all tried to touch Jesus, because power was coming from him and healing them all.” (Luke 6:19)