Our choice to live life our own way has meant that we live in a broken world that is inhabited by broken people. Any way you turn and look you can spot pain and hurt. It doesn't matter which economic or social class you live in or were born into, you will, if you haven't already, experience pain at some stage in your journey. There is no point in attempting to avoid it or pretend it is not there as pain is very much a part of life and as such we must embrace it, as much as we embrace laughter and joy, and allow it to do the job it can do. In life more than often things are what you think about them or how you choose to see them. It is therefore natural that as people that spend most of our lives building walls of protection around us we are more easily attracted to joy and laughter. It is important though to understand that as good as these two are for the inner man and heart, they are unable to reproduce the fruits that pain can bring if we handle it the right way.
You see I believe that pain is used to clear stuff out of our lives whereas laughter is there to add to us. Pain makes space and room for new things to enter our hearts so that we can laugh longer and better after it has completed the task it was sent for. I have come to understand that pain is the chisel that life uses in order to chip away those overgrown places that cover up who we really are within us, that prevent us from experiencing life the way it was meant to be. Jesus said, "to him who much has been forgiven will love much just like to him who little has been forgiven will love little." When we finally find peace in our lives and know the forgiveness of our maker in our hearts much stuff is cleared out as it makes way for something far bigger to move in. So it is with pain as we allow it to level down those parts of our inner man that are unproductive. The more that is leveled down the more room we have to grow and invite new things in our lives that will add instead of taking away from them.
Pain Helps Growth
We need to understand that pain if approached with the right mentality has the potential to help us grow as people. Just like a body builder puts his muscles through the pain barrier to make them grow so pain can enlarge who we are. My physio once told me that pain can also be the signal your muscles and body send you to tell you that something is not quite right within you. This is the same when, say for example someone who crosses our path acts in ways or says something that hurt us. Many of us get offended and walk away instead of taking the time to walk into the pain and be still. This approach of avoidance robs us of the opportunity to discover new things about us that are usually responsible for preventing our growth and development as people. Yes the person that hurt you was probably not right however consider that the hurt might have not been caused if that part of you that was hurt was stronger and perhaps fully healed. You see often we are susceptible to being hurt and experience pain because there are areas of our lives that have remained or become weak as they have been neglected, sheltered, and ill trained like a muscle that gets injured. It is far better to confront and grow than to protect and hide as confronting will better prepare you for the next time you face it, whereas protecting will mean being permanently damaged.
The famous violin maker Stradivarius always used the wood from the side of the tree that had been exposed to the storms. He said this wood gave the instrument a sound that the other side couldn't. It added character the sheltered side of the tree could never deliver. The storms we confront in life often bring pain with them. Unlike the tree we can turn around and run away from them or even avoid them altogether. Unfortunately, if you choose to do this you will be forsaking the opportunity to hear and release the melody that is packed within your heart - that is responsible for helping you to dance through life like a skillful dancer does instead of crawling and crying like a baby.
Pain is Only a Visitor
Many have and continue to spend their life and resources attempting to keep pain away. This choice means that they don't accomplish anything else apart from building a shelter around them. They become people that are unable to relate to others as this approach doesn't just keep pain out but also the life and all the other beautiful things it can offer if we are open. Their journey will not be one of progress but instead one that will go around in circles as they constantly walk around guarding the walls they built around them. Always remember that the peace and life we all want usually comes after we have allowed pain to do its job. Pain is meant to be a visitor in our lives and never a constant companion. It only sticks around when we close the fists of our hearts and hold on tight to the very things it is trying to remove as it makes room within you so that healthier and better things can come into your life.
How true is your article Pablo! As new Christians none of us really know what we've signed up to! But our Lord loves us so much, He knows the path that we should take. We can't become unborn again, so its best to take a deep breath and TRUST that He knows better! After being married for 19 years,(2 Children) my husband challenged me ' its God or me ' - I chose God, but had to trust Him for my marriage, no matter what as my vows to Him, after all said for better or worse. A word from the Lord back then assured me that my husband and I would grow old together!... a few months later ...A divorce ensued, his marriage to another, which lasted 2.5 years; then a brief return back together, only to be abandoned for yet another (old best friend!)- this lasted a while, but my husband returned to the fold, we were were re-married after 8 years of divorce. Alas, after 2 years, he was off again with same 'friend'. I knew the same Source of Grace that enabled me to forgive was ENDLESS, and so my thrice-times broken heart was mended again, once forgiveness on my part had ensued (again!).However, after all the years of pain, and leaning on the Lord...He turns a bitter experience into a sweet one...' my husband finally became a Christian. He's now, God willing returning permanently to the fold, as we make our plans for our lives together. The Lord, I believe will make up for all the years the Locusts eat those crops. My husband is entirely different - after just one touch from the Lord! 14 years I've had to wait! A renewal of our Wedding Vows AMAZING !!! The Lord told me to hang in there as it would be all worthwhile. He's used the pain to mould my character...and I can now say, genuinely THANK YOU JESUS! All Your ways are just and everything You do is good! PTL
"God is on my side" I heard someone say the other day as they shared about a dispute they were having with someone else. As I sat there listening to this person give me all the details about why they thought God was on their side and not on the other party's side I began to wonder. So many of us are so quick to say that God must be on our side because of what we have read and others have told us. Clearly when it comes to the way he feels towards us as our father this is indisputable – He always has and always will be on our side. However, can this be also said when we fight and argue with each other about what after all often only amounts to egotistical pettiness?
I have driven on many third world countries in my time. South Africa is one of these which I happen to often visit. Without fault every time I have been in a car at some stage of my visit, I have had to experience the impact that the regular power cuts have on the traffic signals in this nation. I remember last time I was there when once again while having to endure along with everyone else another blackout, I noticed something that I had never seen before when I came to a non-working traffic light. There is never an accident when the lights are not working whereas when they are working correctly there are plenty. How can this be? Well here is what my heart showed me.
When we choose to live a life where controlling and watching everything we say and do is king, the impact of our involvement is automatically limited as our heart and mind begin to fight between them for the supremacy of our beings. Consider an archer. If he is free to shoot his arrows anywhere he wants he will have the whole of his talent (heart) available to him. He will have no future results in his mind and will therefore almost always hit whatever he desires. Now take the same archer and ask him to hit the apple above your head and you immediately put him in a space where the potential of being divided is available to him.