THE PAINS OF LIFE
Everything comes with a little pain with it. True or false? Many people would have different answers. But I believe that it all comes with pain. There is always pain; you just may not see it. For every action, someone somewhere pays for it. Here are just a few examples: In growth there is pain; In loss there is pain; In success there is pain; in failure there is pain; When you wake up there is pain; When you lie down, there is pain. And these are just a few that we all can identify with. Nonetheless, why does pain exist? I choose to believe that pain is a sign, a means of knowing that something has changed. There are minor pains, and major pains, but both serve as a sign that life has adjusted somewhere for you. Many of us live life trying to avoid pain, when in actuality; pain is just the messenger of a bigger or better problem or profit. Remember, pain is not only the sign of a bad thing, but the sign of a good thing as well. The increased pain of a pregnant woman could mean that she is ready for labor, and ooohhhh the joy of having a child. It hurts, but the reward is incomparable. If we learn how to see pain as a cohort rather than enemy, we might have better direction in life. The cancer may never have grown to the stage it is, if we would have heeded the warning of the pain in the previous months. The pain I feel right now is a sign of things shifting, a sign of great blessing. You don’t receive anything good without first experiencing the pain that precedes it. Even when you think you received something effortlessly, believe me, somewhere in that process, someone had a pain for it. At a very tumultuous time in my life I phoned a friend for comfort. The words of my friend were this, “It’s going to get worse, before it gets better”. I thought to myself, you are not the person I want to talk to. But my friend was right. Get worse it did. I suffered loss, confidence, friends, and the list goes on. However, I have learned that where loss occurs, there is an opportunity created for gain. When one quits, there is an opportunity for a new hire. When money is taken, new money can be gained. I remember losing a friend, she died in the hospital, but not before she had her baby. She died, but a life was given. God is in the business of exchange. He exchanges, joy for sorrow, comfort for pain, reason for confusion, abundance for lack. It just depends on how you see and register your pain. Pay attention to the pain, it could be God’s way of saying a change is coming for your good. No transition is comforting while you are in it. No one likes packing boxes and moving, but there also is nothing like arriving to your new home, or new office or new relationship. Pain has also indicated to me that things were wrong. But even in the negatives of life I have learned to be grateful for the pain, because I became aware that I needed to do something about it. Embrace pain, God is allowing it for your growth. Because the bottom line in all of this is that no pain comes without anticipating healing. The body is designed to recover from life’s unforeseen dilemmas. If God has allowed the pain, His remedy is healing. The goal of any pain is growth and renewal. Not simply restoration in all cases, because to be restored is to be only as good as you were. But God has brought pain to some of us to renew us, to make us better than we were before. Now that’s worth the suffering. “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen (I Peter 5:10, 11 NRSV)”.
Everything comes with a little pain with it. True or false? Many people would have different answers. But I believe that it all comes with pain. There is always pain; you just may not see it. For every action, someone somewhere pays for it. Here are just a few examples: In growth there is pain; In loss there is pain; In success there is pain; in failure there is pain; When you wake up there is pain; When you lie down, there is pain. And these are just a few that we all can identify with. Nonetheless, why does pain exist? I choose to believe that pain is a sign, a means of knowing that something has changed. There are minor pains, and major pains, but both serve as a sign that life has adjusted somewhere for you. Many of us live life trying to avoid pain, when in actuality; pain is just the messenger of a bigger or better problem or profit. Remember, pain is not only the sign of a bad thing, but the sign of a good thing as well. The increased pain of a pregnant woman could mean that she is ready for labor, and ooohhhh the joy of having a child. It hurts, but the reward is incomparable. If we learn how to see pain as a cohort rather than enemy, we might have better direction in life. The cancer may never have grown to the stage it is, if we would have heeded the warning of the pain in the previous months. The pain I feel right now is a sign of things shifting, a sign of great blessing. You don’t receive anything good without first experiencing the pain that precedes it. Even when you think you received something effortlessly, believe me, somewhere in that process, someone had a pain for it. At a very tumultuous time in my life I phoned a friend for comfort. The words of my friend were this, “It’s going to get worse, before it gets better”. I thought to myself, you are not the person I want to talk to. But my friend was right. Get worse it did. I suffered loss, confidence, friends, and the list goes on. However, I have learned that where loss occurs, there is an opportunity created for gain. When one quits, there is an opportunity for a new hire. When money is taken, new money can be gained. I remember losing a friend, she died in the hospital, but not before she had her baby. She died, but a life was given. God is in the business of exchange. He exchanges, joy for sorrow, comfort for pain, reason for confusion, abundance for lack. It just depends on how you see and register your pain. Pay attention to the pain, it could be God’s way of saying a change is coming for your good. No transition is comforting while you are in it. No one likes packing boxes and moving, but there also is nothing like arriving to your new home, or new office or new relationship. Pain has also indicated to me that things were wrong. But even in the negatives of life I have learned to be grateful for the pain, because I became aware that I needed to do something about it. Embrace pain, God is allowing it for your growth. Because the bottom line in all of this is that no pain comes without anticipating healing. The body is designed to recover from life’s unforeseen dilemmas. If God has allowed the pain, His remedy is healing. The goal of any pain is growth and renewal. Not simply restoration in all cases, because to be restored is to be only as good as you were. But God has brought pain to some of us to renew us, to make us better than we were before. Now that’s worth the suffering. “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen (I Peter 5:10, 11 NRSV)”.
