Is pain a good thing? …… Or ……. Is pain a bad thing? Should I try to avoid pain at all costs? As a relational child I will try to avoid pain through alcohol, drugs, BEEPS …… I may even run away. I equate pain as being the opposite of pleasure. I see pain as punishment. I can much better understand peaceful pleasure.
Pain is actually a good thing. However, I can’t understand that if I have not matured into a relational “adult”. I will need to be following my Guide as He leads me into painful situations. Pain makes me more aware and sharpens my senses. Pain helps me avoid that which destroys me. Pain also gives me the desire and ability to push through to the next level. Fasting is pain that allows me to hear and think more clearly. I have some ask me how I can come up with new meditations day after day. The not so secret is that I often write from my pain and the new place I am maturing into. Every mother knows that on the other side of all the pain of giving birth, is the joy of new life! I am now a “parent”!
This helps me make sense of some of the strange scriptures. Like… “Jesus endured the pain of being rejected on the cross for the joy that was set before Him ( so that He could make the way for us all to be with Him forever!) And, “In this world you will suffer pain and persecution.” “Count it all joy when you suffer the pain of all kinds of trials and tribulations and of being treated badly, despised and rejected, acquainted with grief …..
Soooo …. Why can I have peaceful pain? Well, I am following my Guide and I know that this is my training ground where I will encounter pain. By going through this pain, and even in the pain, I will emerge on the other side stronger, better, and way more mature!
It is interesting to note that Paul, David, Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and many others all wrote or lived from their pains.