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The Pain & The Process
by Rev. Will. Harrison Jr. Its an awful wrenching experience when we see the faults and mistakes and wrongs of another person. It is meant to be. Its supposed to be. Likewise, it feels the same way and should even feel worse most of the time, when we se our own. Again, it is meant to be. Its supposed to be. We should really try to stop running from the pain and the process. Sometimes we can never fully embrace the truth about ourselves until we allow ourselves to feel the full effect of the pain we have caused ourselves, our God, and the fabric of our collective togetherness to all humankind and our society and culture. And we will never do this if all we can think of is running to someone and screaming hurry up and get this thing out of me. [ Or, as weve heard it said before, we will be forced to repeat the same offense]. And until we have our cup full of these things we can never taste the full benefit and wonder of the realization of the truth that sets us free and makes us whole and new. Far too many of us, while were being shown the damaging evidence, are so horrified and grieved and lamenting that we spend too much of our hearts ways and emotions complaining about and trying to avoid the awful way it feels, instead of allowing the fullness of the process, and even being grateful for the immense pain and suffering were experiencing while being confronted in our soul. Yes its real hard to do because of the immense pain and shame, but not as hard as our inborn carnal nature has us convinced of. We wrongly assume that to hurry and get this thing out of me we will also just as quickly rid ourselves of the pain of the shame and guilt that is supposed to accompany it all. And if we find our selves re-visiting that same place that got us into such pain then its usually because of our failure to properly and fully handle the whole experience the first time or even any previous time. Its much like the person who has a huge wedge of old rotting wood deep in their skin like a huge raw sliver and it hurts bad, its bleeding but not profusely, and you know it must be removed. Yet, maybe we are no wheres near a hospital at the time or the correct supplies and all we have is some alcohol some olive oil and some salt. We suddenly seem to know what we must do. We must allow our traveling companion [ hey, whered they come from ] to use the oil and the alcohol and the salt to pull out this massive sliver and begin to heal. So then there is and/or should be at some point a gladness and even an eagerness to get the job done, even a joy thats somehow waiting in line to come up and out of your heart and soul as soon as the job is done. And then theres no sleeping gas allowed only a topical anesthetic, the promises of the healing and the assurances of your skilled companion. [ who is this companion anyway no, its not your husband or your wife or any other human on the same road, and you wont find it down inside of yourself it is our Divine Fatherly assigned and imparted guide who knows His stuff ] To scream about the process and the pain certainly will not deter the doctor, so to speak, but it wont help us endure and get the full benefit from the pain and process. Yes, there is meant to be not only help but benefit from the pain and the process and not just something to deal with while we wait for it all to be over. We are never told just to simply endure, like the poster of a little wet kitty kat hanging on by its claws hang in there baby, we are told to overcome and be even more than that, more than a conqueror. If not, we may not be able to avoid that place where we got impaled by that stick in the first place and it will happen again, and ouch, in almost the same spot. Waiting this all out and being distracted from our everyday lives by the whole experience forces us to be reflective and think about how we got in this mess in the first place. It is meant to do that. But if were too busy clanging about the process and the pain, before, during, and after, we could entirely miss the better benefit. Also read [ Matthew ch. 7] We all too often forget about the same pain others are experiencing with their log [ at the time the splinter is stuck in there it feels like and may as well be a log or a beam] that we have felt with ours. There are no policemen in the Kingdom of Grace - Whjr So sad, so tragic, and weve all done it. We so need each other for support and the prayers we are to be lifting up to the Father, for one another. Yet, too often we see another person suffering at their own fault and we want to help them like Jobs well meaning friends who unwittingly had no salve to soothe only acid to eat away. Im going to shoot you if you dont stop doing things that remind me of the stupidity of my own self. This is not the way of Jesus we are to be with each other. And when we witness a divine exception to the rule, where the Lord appoints a high ranking Levitical official [such as a prophet or pastor, etc] to do the pointing out and illuminating of our foolishness, it is always supposed to be done with gentleness, patience, meekness, etc. [See 2 Tim. 2: 22-25.] The confronting that may be meant to have happen, by the Lord in these cases, will be executed by Him alone, as a result of our meek and gentle speaking of the truth to illuminate each other. This is because only the Lord and His Spirit are authorized to adopt an apparent hostile posture with us concerning our wrongs, because He is innocent and above the law. Not any of us because we all have sinned and none of us are righteous enough to judge. All of this experience and its unique characteristics is truly meant by the Lord Jesus to cause us, even compel us, to hurt for and care deeply for one another, instead of what we too often do and that is to scold each other and try to rip out that wedge in our fellowman. I most certainly do understand how hard it is to have this more Godly and appropriate response when we are trying to help our fellowman to avoid what we went thru. We say its because we truly care. But according to the truth of Gods views and values, if we truly cared as He defines it, then well endure and fully benefit from our own similar afflictions in such a way so as to provide appropriate compassion and real live help to our neighbors when they are in the same spot, not the cold-heartedness of a judgmental spirit. But again, in order to do that we cannot just merely go through the pain and the process, waiting for it to hurry up and be over with, eager to see the pain end and us resuming our lame walk to the next crisis. Without the proper heart attitude and reaction in our own trials we will not be able to have the kind of response that will not only truly help us but also make us able to correctly be there for our brother when it happens to them. [ by the way, where does everyone seem to be getting stuck by that stick we keep having to get pulled out? Its from that old nasty crippled wretchedy tree thats in the Garden of our God, the tree of the knowledge and awareness of the good and evil that exists and that not one of us can handle ] Let us not only seek to have all of our own logs removed by the Spirit of God, our traveling Divine Fatherly companion, but truly help each other while they are being removed, instead of scolding as to why did you let that happen to yourself, shame on you. well, how did I let mine happen to me? We need compassion and true extricating help to proceed along the journey, not fire. Rev. Will. Harrison Jr. Minister since late seventies, living with disabilities, married with children, should not have been saved. Former white & blue collar businessman. President and Founder LifeBuilders Ministry www.lifebuilders.mysite.com Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |