Life Goes On

My friend gave me a Peanuts Holiday Book Set and I was reading the one for Valentine’s Day.  In it Charlie Brown doesn’t get any Valentines, yet at the end he shares with Linus that the following year he might get so many that he might need three bags to carry all of them (smile).  Hope after a disappointment can be very painful- it’s easier to succumb to bitterness, sadness and self-pity. At times we even justify our darkness; “I have a right to be sad after what I have experienced!”  Truth is we are people with feelings, and hurts will affect us negatively and we do have the right to cry and be sad; but, if we believe in God and trust in Him- we have a duty to not REMAIN in darkness, but to seek His light.  To remember in the darkness the things we have learned in the light…  To cry and wipe our tears knowing that God has everything under control. 

True, we all need time to mourn to experience and feel the pain.  Grieving is a healthy part of healing, but the thing to remember is that eventually we have to pass through it and slowly come out into that great light that guides us forth.  “There’s a sun coming up in my soul… I see the light- I see the light.”  Even nature speaks of beginning again- every dark night is followed by the promises of a beautiful sunrise.  This week a dream died for me, but sometimes we need to let go to make room for His gifts that are on their way.  Before I would lose my peace looking for the why’s of rejections, but trust in God requires us to be ok not having all the answers.

The first time I opened a Bible, my brother was dying in a hospital room and I asked a God (that at the time I did not believe in) to please give me something to help me and my family, because worse than our personal pain is witnessing pain in those we love.  After this short incredulous prayer I opened my Bible- it landed at the beginning of the Book of Job.  I read the entire book that day.  The language and testimony of so much loss gave me so much hope.  I mean if there’s a man with a legit reason to complain it has to be Job.  Yet, he never loses his faith in God.  Often times in my hurts and losses I have gone back to Job – I mean if there’s a human that can understand pain it’s him.  He puts words to those inexplicable feelings and his words offer ointment for my wounds.  He endures and he endures hopeful.  He just hangs on and goes right through the pain. He clings to God and makes it to the end of his suffering because pain has a beginning, but also an end.  I think Job’s technique is very valuable, he teaches us to face our troubles, to face our pain, to cling to God and to hope and wait for that amanecer (breaking dawn). His trials bring him closer to God in a very remarkable way- pain should push us towards God more faithfully because He is our greatest physician.   

Sometimes as Christians we think that we should never allow ourselves to be sad.   We even feel ashamed to share that we are experiencing inner turmoil and difficulties.  Yet, we are human with the capacity to feel pain.  In fact, in order to overcome hurts and rise above them we need time to experience the hurt, to confront it and say, “I am hurting- but this too shall pass.”  There’s nothing wrong with shedding tears and surrendering to the pain inside, my mom always cheers me on when I cry, “Baby, go ahead cry let it all out.”  Tears are designed to cleanse our eyes and our souls, but after a period of mourning we need to move forward.