The Pain of Sorrow & It's Healing Powers

January 24, 2014

I was checking Facebook yesterday and I received a message from my buddy/pastor asking how my father was doing.  So I gave him the update and then asked how he was doing because he knew Steve quite well and I knew it bothered him as much as it bothered me.  He thanked me for asking, said he felt like crawling in a hole, but knew that the Lord has some words for him to share this coming weekend at church.

My reply was along the same lines but I don’t crawl in holes – I feel like jumping on my bike, loading a trailer up, and just riding away into the sunset and find what lies outside my comfort zone beyond the horizon of despair.  We both know that crawling into a hole or riding off into the sunset is not even remotely possible but at times like this in life it is “the easy way” to handle life.

What would you benefit and how would that benefit society?  Today’s society is ruled by the thoughts of not showing your emotion and not letting anyone know how you truly feel about a situation.  But what happens when you share with someone how much pain you are feeling and how you wish that the scenario played out differently.  Maybe they never heard anyone express pain or sorrow in their life and you opened their eyes to a level of compassion and love that they never knew existed!

At the end of the day we are going to experience pain and how you handle it will mold your body and soul into what the Lord has in store for it.  It may be hard to be thankful at that time in your life but when you come across someone in need of your words then you might catch a glimpse of exactly why a scenario played out the way it did.  I know when I am back in Redondo Beach in 10 days I will be contemplating many things but riding off into the sunset won’t win out!

Forgiveness

My mom in her younger days and then in her older days prior to her death - this woman carried a lot of anger!

January 22, 2014

I honestly don’t know what hurts more the fact that everyone says they realize how close we were or the fact that I don’t think we were really that close.  I have closer friends that I would have reached out to in time of need before Steve only because I know he was not that handy. 

But Steve was also the kind of guy that I would purposely seek out on Sunday when I saw him and would actually go out into the parking lot just to say hi to him and catch up real quick.  But if I didn’t see him I didn’t feel at a loss I just figured I would catch up with him next week.  You know what though – next week never came again and now I am left remembering our last conversation and also how good his sons did on his eulogy last week.

There comes a time in everyone’s life that you make a decision about continuing relationships or friendships and those are always difficult times.  A person you felt close to might have done you wrong and you feel the only way to overcome it is by stopping all communication with them.  Honestly though what does that solve because generally the person that stops the communication is the only one that realizes something is wrong.

I guess the point of today’s writing is that forgiveness is difficult but carrying around a lot of anger will never make you happy.  If there is someone out there that you are angry at do the right thing and calmly explain to them what made you angry and ask for their forgiveness about being angry at them and I guarantee you will feel a whole lot better!