Facing Pain

I had a toothache this past Saturday night.  The kind of toothache that kept me up most of the night trying everything I could to make the pain stop - peroxide rinse, orajel, distraction, pounding the walls (like that could help) until it got so bad I had to take some strong medicine. So strong it knocked me out and I missed Church Sunday morning. 

Although the medicine made the pain go away temporarily, my filling is still broken, and until I fix it (which I will, as much as I hate the dentist) I will have to deal with pain.

When we are hurting we have to get to the root of the problem.  Distraction won't work.  Pacifying yourself won't work.  Lashing out won't work.  Sooner or later you will have to face it and fix it.  It takes courage to admit that we are in pain.  We often try hard to bear it.  We say we're strong and we show it on the outside, but on the inside it's tearing us apart.  That's no way to live. 

Pain is okay.  Pain is how we know there is something wrong.  Whether it's physical, mental, spiritual or emotional, make sure you take the necessary steps to take care of yourself and get help to fix what is hurting you.  Life isn't supposed to hurt. 

Face it and fix it.

Grow Up

These days, when I tell my 5-year old no, I get a lot of pouting and resistance.  Today, I was told I was "unfair" because I wouldn't let her have her way. 

We aren't much different when it comes to our obedience to God.  We know what we *should* do, but we try to get our own way anyway.  And we cry that Life isn't fair when we are challenged to be obedient or patient with God's way and timing (or when things don't turn out the way we thought they would).  We want what we want and we want it now.    
    
The fact is, we can't have our way all the time.  If we believe that God knows what is best for us, we have to trust that His way and His timing are best, regardless of what we think we want and when we think we want it.  A lot of the time, what we want is the last thing we need.

The Bible says that as children, we thought as children, but as adults, we put away childish things.  It's time to act like grown-ups, and that means dealing with not getting our way with grace and maturity. We need boundaries as much as we need freedom. Sometimes we need to be told "no" now, so we can get the best "yes" later.