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| Been Crying (1) (Photo credit: Toni Blay) |
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3
New International Version (NIV)
There are some who seem to have reached some point in life when all purposeful future ends and their life is defined by an event or a series of events that happened in the past. This negative aspect of their life takes over their existence so that it becomes the focal point of their thought and action. Nearly everything they say or do comes down to something that happened in the past.
Should a healthy existence end when a life trauma occurs? Should we be defined by the bad things that have happened to us? Is there ever a time when we need to let go of painful memories in order to adjust to functioning and interacting with others without a cloud of negativity surrounding us?
Bad things happen to all of us. For every bad thing that has happened to you, someone else has experienced something worse. Continually living in that bad thing will not change what happened. Always looking for sympathy and reassurance is like being addicted to a drug--you feel better for a while, but then you want more. Would your life be better if you could let go of the bad feelings and stop hanging on to the pain?
There are some things that cannot be forgotten, but they do not have to be continually turned over in the mind so that there is no escaping them. The bad events of life are a part of history and that's where they need to stay. They don't have to be our trauma of the present. We should not be enslaved by a bad past. Instead we should use this part of our life to raise our spirits, help others, and to glorify God.
The future does not have to be the past.
But the Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
New International Version (NIV)
Amazing the correlation between the size of scars and the amount of picking done at them when they were scabs. Too many times we find ourselves locked in self punishment. My son developed a good way on his own to look at the bad things of the past done to him. It's called, "That ain't me."
ReplyDeleteWise words; I have to say I've let some things from the past consume me at times; good reminder not to continue to do so!
ReplyDeletebetty
I just want to thank you for offering these Sunday words.
ReplyDeleteArlee, this is beautiful and so heart-felt. You're absolutely right that we have to remember those things which may have caused us trauma, but acknowledgement and facing the truth of the source of our pain will set us free; free to love and feel and explore in ways that we could not before, if we were fettered by our negative and hopeless feelings, no matter what the cause. Thank you so much for sharing this. I came to read your words to your Mother and to honor her and you. She raised a wonderful son! Mary xoxo
ReplyDeleteI thank you all for your encouraging words.
ReplyDeleteLee