I’m on a bit of a theme at the moment, with what I’m reading and the stories and articles that catch my eye…I’ve been looking  at ‘pain’ and ‘suffering’ partly because it is always interesting to see how Christians approach these topics, partly to process and refine my own views on these matters, and partly because I want to be a person that doesn’t just give pat answers to others who are hurting, but can offer real and honest empathy and hope and also have the ability to look at situations not just through my own limited lenses.  So these thoughts of mine may turn into a series, I don’t know…..but I’ll just roll with what may come…..

Deep down in my innerds I have an ulcer. I’m about halfway through my medicine to fix this here ulcer. In the meantime it is a little painful on some days on other days it is a lot painful and on other days I’m blissfully unaware of it. 

I’m not normally in the habit of sharing my medical woes with strangers, or even with friends, but stay with me, there is a point to all of this. You see at the time of the ulcer’s discovery, my specialist shrugged it off as something that was insignificant. No biggie. Nothing to worry about. However, because I could track the pain I was feeling, to the exact spot of the ulcer’s position in my innerds, my doctor listened to me and validated what I was feeling. And recognised that this issue needed attention and treatment. 

And here’s the thing…. I think we all have pain of different types, emotional, spiritual, and maybe even physical pain, that others have fobbed off as insignificant.  No biggie. Nothing to worry about. 

And so this pain hasn’t ever been dealt with. 

And so this pain has maybe grown, and taken over more space than it should have ever been allowed. 

And so this pain has become a barrier to victory and progress in other areas of your life. 

We all work really hard to deal with physical pain. We have plenty of tools at our disposal to ‘fix’ our physical bodies. We have treatment plans and big pharma in our corner…..but maybe we all need to put a little more effort into firstly identifying emotional pain, and then doing something about it. Just maybe, aye. 

When I look around me and identify the funnest and most joyful people in my circles, they are without a doubt the people who carry with them the least amount of baggage.  They may have had very eventful journeys and they may have walked hard, hard, hard and dark, dark, roads, but when they talk, I lean in and I listen up hard. For these people have chosen to deal with their schtufff, no matter what ‘the others’ have said. 

I want to be a person who can walk through each chapter of life, embracing it for what it is, not tied down by yesterday’s worries and cares. Baggage-less. And victory-ful.

Let’s work together on being wise and being mindful of what pain in our lives needs attention and a little extra loving, what parts of our innerds need healing. We’re all walking wounded in some way or another, but we CAN be each other’s crutches and we CAN make easy the way to the Great Physician.