LIFE HURTS. Life, by its very nature, contains various types of pain. There is of course physical pain, but let us not forget emotional or spiri-tual pain. We all experience pain in varying degrees from the time we are born until the time we die. Yes, pain is one of life’s basic realities.
Some pain we experience is self-inflicted either purposefully (like banging your head against the wall in a fit of frustration) or inflicted by ac-cident (as in banging your thumb with a hammer.)
Some pain is other-inflicted. An unkind word, or a slug to the solar plexus. With one having much longer effect than the other.
Some pain is life-inflicted. The cancer or tumor or hurricane. There’s not much you can do but to seek to endure and pray for mercy.
Yes, pain happens, of this we can be sure, but the question that is truly before us is, “How do we deal with the pain we experience?” Do we complain or strike back? Do we give-in or seek to conquer it? Do we medicate or meditate? I suppose that throughout one’s life we respond in all of these ways, I know that I have.
How are we to deal with the pains that we experience in this life? I have discovered that one of the things that makes pain bearable, be it physical, emotional or spiritual, is whether or not I have hope. Knowing that the pain will stop after awhile gives me the strength to endure physi-cal pain. Knowing that there are others who love and accept me gives me the ability to endure emotionally draining experiences. And the knowledge that there is a God who loves me, and is at work in me, and has created a home for me, helps me to carry on in the journey of faith.
The words of the Apostle Peter have often brought me comfort during the painful periods of my life and I pray they do the same for you. He writes, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10-11)
Therein is my hope.