Pain is real, so is hope
The pain we experience in life is real. It is our body reminding us that something is wrong. It isn't always physical pain that triggers our senses it is often emotional or spiritual pain that heightens our awareness to the experiences we have. Pain is not always associated with something bad, if you think about physical pain it is our body sending out warning signals that something is wrong and needs attention. Some times the pain is simply from overuse of certain muscles or short term feelings from bumping into something. However there are times when we must heed the wisdom of the body when our pain is something out of the ordinary. I find it rather fascinating that God built in us pain receptors to aid us in staying healthy. We all know the physical aspects of pain and more times than not we can discern the urgency of the pain quickly.
Emotional and spiritual pain is a whole different level of hurt that exceeds are ability to discern. Life is full of instances to where we think we are emotionally heading in the right direction only to find out we made a wrong turn at the last intersection. Unlike physical pain though we tend to keep going emotionally thinking, praying, or hoping that things just magically get better. As the emotional pain grows in intensity it begins to pick up carnage along the way. Friends are lost, relationships are splintered, faith is shattered and most of all hope is gone. Even worse though is our belief and trust in our own self is destroyed. We face the albatross around our neck that informs us we are getting what we deserve or that we should martyr ourselves for the past offenses we have committed. With that we live with emotional burdens that left alone for too long dull our senses to the physical pain that has become a side effect.
Emotional pain does have treatment similar to that of physical. We can visit doctors that prescribe us medication that decreases our ability to feel certain emotions related to the environmental pain we have encountered. I believe in professional treatment of clinically diagnosed medical issues that pertain to our emotional well being, that however is not what I am talking about. I speak of the emotional pain that lies silently in the recesses of our heart. That hopeless feeling of not being able to express love in the way your mind images you should. That feeling of loss due to words left unspoken or forgiveness not given. That feeling of knowing that had you acted a certain way that your life would now be different. That feeling of realizing that your heart has an affection for someone other than your spouse or significant other. That feeling of knowing that people you trusted in fact were not trustworthy. That feeling when you look back and see the opportunities that slipped by because you were too busy living to live.
You can add anything to that list, I just wrote a few from people that have written to me. The point is that emotional pain is real. What I want to explain in this blog is that we are emotional creatures, yes we have feelings. We hurt at times and we have joy at times. It is the hidden pain that we can't discuss that renders us hopeless. The sound of silence can be so loud that it drowns out the heartbeat of hope. The same can be said for spiritual pain. Spiritual pain is akin to emotional pain, it too can cause a heart to grow cold.
What I want to draw attention to is this, as real as pain is, HOPE is just as real. In my personal journey with cancer I have seen the hardest hearts converted to the warmest souls of humanity. I have witnessed people so cynical you could not stand to be around them become the greatest warriors of love, why? All because they found hope. Hope is a powerful motivator yet not easy to find. In our daily grind we simply try to survive more than thrive. The eat lunch don't be lunch mentality saps any semblance of hope that might find it's way into our heart. The grind is what causes the frustrations that eventually become the source of pain our bodies endure. When life deals us a blow that slows us down then and only then do we see that hope is just as real as pain. I think for me I often ask why did it take cancer for me to see the power of hope? Now my life passion is to help others see and feel the healing power of hope. That is difficult because life is rather complex and from our roots we learn the negative aspects of our surroundings more than we learn the positives. The way we see the world creates the world in which we see. Which means if we view the world as negative we face pain, if we view the world as positive we see hope. I personally believe that hope can ease so much pain we face as humans. The source of hope is true agape love.
This is to be continued so please stay tuned in the coming days and weeks. As always I value your feedback. My personal email is livinadream46@gmail.com or find me on facebook (Dale Childress)
peace to you
Dale
Emotional and spiritual pain is a whole different level of hurt that exceeds are ability to discern. Life is full of instances to where we think we are emotionally heading in the right direction only to find out we made a wrong turn at the last intersection. Unlike physical pain though we tend to keep going emotionally thinking, praying, or hoping that things just magically get better. As the emotional pain grows in intensity it begins to pick up carnage along the way. Friends are lost, relationships are splintered, faith is shattered and most of all hope is gone. Even worse though is our belief and trust in our own self is destroyed. We face the albatross around our neck that informs us we are getting what we deserve or that we should martyr ourselves for the past offenses we have committed. With that we live with emotional burdens that left alone for too long dull our senses to the physical pain that has become a side effect.
Emotional pain does have treatment similar to that of physical. We can visit doctors that prescribe us medication that decreases our ability to feel certain emotions related to the environmental pain we have encountered. I believe in professional treatment of clinically diagnosed medical issues that pertain to our emotional well being, that however is not what I am talking about. I speak of the emotional pain that lies silently in the recesses of our heart. That hopeless feeling of not being able to express love in the way your mind images you should. That feeling of loss due to words left unspoken or forgiveness not given. That feeling of knowing that had you acted a certain way that your life would now be different. That feeling of realizing that your heart has an affection for someone other than your spouse or significant other. That feeling of knowing that people you trusted in fact were not trustworthy. That feeling when you look back and see the opportunities that slipped by because you were too busy living to live.
You can add anything to that list, I just wrote a few from people that have written to me. The point is that emotional pain is real. What I want to explain in this blog is that we are emotional creatures, yes we have feelings. We hurt at times and we have joy at times. It is the hidden pain that we can't discuss that renders us hopeless. The sound of silence can be so loud that it drowns out the heartbeat of hope. The same can be said for spiritual pain. Spiritual pain is akin to emotional pain, it too can cause a heart to grow cold.
What I want to draw attention to is this, as real as pain is, HOPE is just as real. In my personal journey with cancer I have seen the hardest hearts converted to the warmest souls of humanity. I have witnessed people so cynical you could not stand to be around them become the greatest warriors of love, why? All because they found hope. Hope is a powerful motivator yet not easy to find. In our daily grind we simply try to survive more than thrive. The eat lunch don't be lunch mentality saps any semblance of hope that might find it's way into our heart. The grind is what causes the frustrations that eventually become the source of pain our bodies endure. When life deals us a blow that slows us down then and only then do we see that hope is just as real as pain. I think for me I often ask why did it take cancer for me to see the power of hope? Now my life passion is to help others see and feel the healing power of hope. That is difficult because life is rather complex and from our roots we learn the negative aspects of our surroundings more than we learn the positives. The way we see the world creates the world in which we see. Which means if we view the world as negative we face pain, if we view the world as positive we see hope. I personally believe that hope can ease so much pain we face as humans. The source of hope is true agape love.
This is to be continued so please stay tuned in the coming days and weeks. As always I value your feedback. My personal email is livinadream46@gmail.com or find me on facebook (Dale Childress)
peace to you
Dale
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