I read those words from a Christian dealing with a bunch of stuff in their life and they caught my attention. The litany of things this person is dealing with is long. There are things on that list that break my heart. There are hard things, seemingly easy things, things that take up brain space and heart space and in general make a person weary. And yet, instead of being able to state the crap in life, put it out there on the table and walk away there was an addendum, "I know this will pass..."
One simple sentence and yet it held so much guilt. What I saw behind the statement was "I shouldn't be feeling this way", maybe that awful cliche of "God doesn't give us more than we can handle" (click here for the best blog I've ever read on that horrid misrepresentation of scripture) or the even more vile "God's just testing me" notion. Behind that statement was a denial of self that, however noble, spoke volumes. We aren't allowed to feel what we feel because...this too shall pass.
Sometimes I feel like the Christian world works overtime to hide the humanness within us all. We are supposed to be above it all, and yet, we are human. We are frail. We get tired, angry, happy, sad. One minute we can be overflowing with joy, the next despair. From one second to another we can be calm and then overwrought with anger. It's the way of life, it ebbs and it flows. Emotions happen.
I am so sad when I hear people disregard their hurts, their worries, their sorrows because, well, we're supposed to "buck up" and remember "this too shall pass." Yes, yes it will but until the current problems dim, lets just face reality, shall we? Life hurts sometimes. It's not always fun and joy filled.
In those moments, instead of passing around cheap cliches (that actually do more harm then they help, in my humble opinion), let's look at the person who is hurting and call the spade, the spade. Let's acknowledge the pain, the sorrow, the joy, the anger, the depression, the fear, the burdened shoulders. Let's stop hiding behind the fear that God won't show up and save us from this (again, it's my humble opinion but isn't that what we are really saying with those cliches?) and just come right out and say it. "I am overwhelmed. This hurts. I've had enough. I'm scared. It all just feels way to much for me to handle right now."
Papa Bear has been more emotional the last few weeks, as he has every right to be. We all have. Tears come readily and easily as we contemplate the road ahead. I have stopped myself, corrected myself several times when Papa Bear starts to tear up and I start to say "AGH, Don't cry!" (which I recognize is more a self preservation thing for me than about him. If he cries, I cry.) I've retracted that statement over and over reminding both of us to feel whatever we are feeling, be it tears, laughter, sadness, anger, joy, the emotions are valid and we need to feel them, to work through them as we walk this path.
Hello, my name is Brittany. My family is going through some pretty rough stuff right now and we're all a little scared and anxious about what tomorrow will bring. Thanks for listening.
One simple sentence and yet it held so much guilt. What I saw behind the statement was "I shouldn't be feeling this way", maybe that awful cliche of "God doesn't give us more than we can handle" (click here for the best blog I've ever read on that horrid misrepresentation of scripture) or the even more vile "God's just testing me" notion. Behind that statement was a denial of self that, however noble, spoke volumes. We aren't allowed to feel what we feel because...this too shall pass.
Sometimes I feel like the Christian world works overtime to hide the humanness within us all. We are supposed to be above it all, and yet, we are human. We are frail. We get tired, angry, happy, sad. One minute we can be overflowing with joy, the next despair. From one second to another we can be calm and then overwrought with anger. It's the way of life, it ebbs and it flows. Emotions happen.
I am so sad when I hear people disregard their hurts, their worries, their sorrows because, well, we're supposed to "buck up" and remember "this too shall pass." Yes, yes it will but until the current problems dim, lets just face reality, shall we? Life hurts sometimes. It's not always fun and joy filled.
In those moments, instead of passing around cheap cliches (that actually do more harm then they help, in my humble opinion), let's look at the person who is hurting and call the spade, the spade. Let's acknowledge the pain, the sorrow, the joy, the anger, the depression, the fear, the burdened shoulders. Let's stop hiding behind the fear that God won't show up and save us from this (again, it's my humble opinion but isn't that what we are really saying with those cliches?) and just come right out and say it. "I am overwhelmed. This hurts. I've had enough. I'm scared. It all just feels way to much for me to handle right now."
Papa Bear has been more emotional the last few weeks, as he has every right to be. We all have. Tears come readily and easily as we contemplate the road ahead. I have stopped myself, corrected myself several times when Papa Bear starts to tear up and I start to say "AGH, Don't cry!" (which I recognize is more a self preservation thing for me than about him. If he cries, I cry.) I've retracted that statement over and over reminding both of us to feel whatever we are feeling, be it tears, laughter, sadness, anger, joy, the emotions are valid and we need to feel them, to work through them as we walk this path.
Hello, my name is Brittany. My family is going through some pretty rough stuff right now and we're all a little scared and anxious about what tomorrow will bring. Thanks for listening.
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