"EMBRACE THE PRICKLY PARTS OF LIFE"

            EMBRACE THE PRICKLY PARTS OF LIFE

Living life to the fullest sounds like a good philosophy--when

life is going well. But who wants to "seize the day" when the

day you are supposed to wrap your arms around is as prickely

as a desert saguaro? If every day is a gift, some of them seem 

to be better unopened. The day you loose your job. The day

you get bad news from the doctor's office. The day your

fiance breaks up with you, The day you are in a five-car pileup.

The day that someone departs for heaven, leaving you and

your broken heart behind.

The truth is that there are going to be painful days on the way

to heaven. Whether the pain is emotional, financial, physical,

or spiritual dosen't matter. Pain is pain. However, pain can be

beneficial--and can be transformed into something beautiful.=

if you let it. It all depends on what you choose to do with it.

Instead of fearing it, denying it, getting  angry over it,

complaining abouit it, or playing the martyr over it, be brave

enough to enter into it. But don't go there alone. God is near.

He is compasionate. He is powerful. His arms are big enough

to hold both you and your pain long enough, and close enough.

not only for you to heal, but to learn lessons that only pain

can teach.

Pain forces you to get back to basics. It reminds you of

what is really important in life. It helps you to appreciate the

treasure that an ordinary, uneventful day can hold. It opens

your eyes to how God does bring good out of even  the most

tragic situations. It helps you to empathise with others who

have walked simular dark roads. And it reminds you that one

day the pain of this world will be behind you. Until then,

don't wast the pain that comes your way. Learn from it.

Embrace it with one hand while holding tightly to God with

the other."

David Bordon/TomWinters