Pain. How do you feel when you hear that word? I'm not a fan of it. I've been thinking a lot about painful experiences lately and have some things I'd like to share. When you have a chance to encounter pain, what do you do? Do you walk into it, or do you run away? I run away. Well, I have in the past. Avoiding pain has been my tendency. But, as a result, I have also missed life. Pain is a part of life, isn't it? Life isn't all rainbows, unicorns, smiling faces and pain free, unfortunately. I think we need to be told that we will encounter pain and that it is ok. Hearing that just brings freedom, doesn't it? As opposed to not expecting pain and then being disappointed, hurt and not knowing what to do with it when it comes. But, I digress......
Pain. Do you purposefully walk into situations that might be painful, or do you back away? I don't know what that would be for you, but I will use exercise as an example. Exercise can be painful, right? You are using muscles and parts of your body that maybe haven't been used in a while. That can hurt in the beginning. You either have a choice to 1.) make a decision to go for it, push through the pain and see the results, 2.) decide to try it, then quit because it hurts to much and miss the results, or 3.) not try at all because it MIGHT hurt too much. Not only then are you missing the results, but you are also missing the fact that you DID IT! You miss pushing through the pain, realizing you are stronger than what you thought it would be and feeling the VICTORY of accomplishment and success! Man, what a bummer! I don't know about you, but I'd rather try something than miss out enitreley, right?
Here's another example. Having children. Have you ever heard anyone say they were not going to have children because they thought childbirth might hurt too much? {I will be honest, it did cross my mind.} No, because people don't get pregnant and think about the pain. They are focused on the other parts - the pregnancy, the showers, the getting ready for baby to come, childbirth classes, etc. The pain isn't on their mind. The pain didn't determine whether or not they would get pregnant. The pain is often an after thought, right? Is childbirth painful? Yes. Even though I had c-sections, those aren't a walk in the park either, friends. There is pain involved, but you don't let the pain dictate whether or not you have a child, right? Right.
So, why do we do that with other areas of our life? Why do we let past pains and hurts hold us back from walking into our destinies? I see it time and time and time again. Someone got wounded or hurt in a certain area of their lives and they carry it around with them for the rest of their lives. This hurt oozes into other areas of their life, affecting not only the person who got hurt, but those in relationship with them as well. Why aren't we willing to address or deal with our emotional pain? Why do we let it control us? Are we afraid to admit we are hurt? Bruised? Wounded? It's like I posted on my facebook page earlier, if we had a gash on our hand, we would address it, wouldn't we? Wouldn't we bandage it, and let it heal rather than leave it open and not heal? So, why are our emotional hurts different? Do we think it makes us look weak to have past hurts we need to deal with? Please help me understand this. Are we so prideful that we don't want to admit we have healing to do? I sincerely want to understand this. Why do we avoid pain in certain situations but not others? It is bondage, friends. We are made to be free, but we aren't if we keep walking around with unhealed hurts. What do you think?
No comments :
Post a Comment