Category: Uncategorized

Life has gotten a little interesting. After breaking my thumb I get to figure out how to work with one hand. I am gaining a new appreciation for those who have to live this way full-time.

Unfortunately I broke the hand I do everything with, and as I am not ambidextrous I get to struggle through with my opposite hand. Life has gotten a little slower and a little more on purpose.

And yet this is a blessing in disguise. A little time to rethink and refocus life. So a something quite uncomfortable and painful can be a blessing depending on your viewpoint.

Scripture teaches that we should be thankful in all things, and for all things. And only the attitude of our heart will allow us to do this. Besides life is far to short to take seriously.

There seems to be a prevalent thought pattern that permeates our world today. A thought pattern that says what is right for you isn’t right for me. I can decide my own truth. We seem to think that this is a new way of doing things, as we have “evolved” to the point where we no longer need absolutes anymore. Our society has developed to the point where we can each decide for ourselves what is true and right. And yet more than two thousand years ago the bible records that the children of Israel had this same thought pattern. “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes”

So we have not “evolved” past the need for absolutes. We just have become so proud of ourselves and our accomplishments that we think we can decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. Just like every other society that has come and gone before us. Historically shortly before a societies downfall they had this same thought pattern. It led to perversion and lawlessness, and eventually destruction. And it seems that we still have yet to learn from those who have gone before us, as we continue to repeat the same mistakes.

And yet we have a double standard in life, because we require others to live up to a standard, while we choose what is right for us. We see this often while we drive. We want to drive anyway we think is right, and get angry with anyone who gets in our way, and then call anyone else an idiot who does the same. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

We expect the builder of our homes to build to a standard. How would you feel if a contractor came to build your home and pulled out a tape measure he had made himself. It just wouldn’t sit well, and we would probably reconsider the fact that we hired him. And yet this is what we do everyday. We have designed our own standards (tape measure) to design and build our lives with. And we wonder why our homes are crooked and things just don’t seem to fit together.

We are a society that builds and runs on a “do what feels good” mentality that refuses any outside interference with what it determines is right. If we all designed a ruler, and then used it to draw a 6″ line, we would all, in theory have the same size line, but when you put them beside each other there would be slight to drastic differences. Not one of them would be the same.

And yet we continue to build our lives with our own standards. If we are to be who we were truly meant to be we will have to build on strong absolutes. A truth cannot be right for you and wrong for me. Truth is only truth when it is absolute and truth for all. We must begin to build again on truth and right standards. Only then can we stand strong and firm.

We have all heard the saying that “time heals all wounds.”    We get wounded by friends for family members, or others who are close to us and we figure that if we give it enough time we will be able to move past it and be able to forget about what happened.    And yet the memories and often the pain continue to haunt us as we struggle to focus and continue with our daily life.  I agree with Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy when she said “It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, (protecting its sanity), covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But, it is never gone.”  Time just doesn’t heal all wounds.

Some wounds require us to focus on what really happened within us.  Only be searching within can we find the answers to what went wrong and what we can do to change it.  Usually most wounds require the attention of the one who wounded us.  Unfortunately this is something we don’t want to do.  The one who hurt us is often the one that can bring healing to our soul.  Unless we are willing to begin to seek reconciliation with those who have hurt us, we can never truly be healed.  This starts first with forgiveness.  We have to forgive those who have hurt us, including ourselves.  Sometimes we are the bringer of the deepest wounds in our soul.  But even though forgiveness is our choice, it goes neglected and the blame often gets put on those who have hurt us.  They don’t deserve to be forgiven is often the feeling communicated.  Or I’ll forgive them when they come and apologize.  And yet unforgiveness binds us to the person who hurt us and to the hurt, and the person who caused the injury to us goes on with their life like nothing happened, often because they don’t know anything did happen.

And so we must choose to forgive, and often at times deal personally with the one who hurt us.  A face to face meeting to discuss what happened, and allow ourselves to feel the hurt, and to communicate the hurt so the one who hurt us can see the damage and offer their side of the story.  Quite often the hurt is caused by a misunderstanding, and unless it is talked about true understanding can never come.  If we choose to allow time to bring the healing we will continue to wander through life never being truly free of the pain within.  But if we choose to deal with the cause of the pain, we can make inroads into self discovery and freedom that can only come by facing the issues and bringing resolution to them.