30th post! Cool.
Anyways... it sure has been an interesting first seven days of school. Pomona Crusade has gotten off to a good start, and there are many freshmen and transfers interested in involvement here.
However, some of my friends at other schools have been under spiritual attack or in ugly situations, and it grieves me that they suffer these things... especially when those who are in trouble are my sisters in Christ. Now, in my experience, since I consider my relationship with my own sister to be pretty good, I treat my sisters in Christ like I treat her: with love, respect, sensitivity and more importantly, help. Help in listening to their problem and letting God work through me to advise them on it, whether that means finding them other sisters to help them out or working through them with it, if the situation is within my understanding. Of course, this happens with my brothers too, but more often lately it has been happening with my sisters. And... it just wounds my heart, to see them in pain like that; and because of Christ's love for the lost, even those temporarily lost, even for me... it wells up in me a response of:
1. Shock that it is happening
2. Sorrow at the pain
3. Compassion
4. Slight anger at the enemy (a big brother's classic response)
5. A showing of love, a pouring out of myself because of Him and because of the warmth and lovingkindness that they have shown me in my times of trouble.
It's an odd mix, I know, but I just can't break it down for you in any other way. It has gotten me to wondering lately, "I don't understand... why do they have to be in pain? And why did God give me all this love to pour out?" I don't feel worthy for it often, and sometimes I'm very tired when I first hear of a given situation. But for some reason, God gives me the strength and wisdom to respond, and to try and help them out of harm's way.
I don't mean to sound like the hero here, and I don't mean to boast either. I'm just telling it like it is. And I also know the answers to those wonderings: it's because God intends for me to be the brother to them at those times, and to show them His grace and love. But not just at these times, either. Being a brother is a full time job.
If that doesn't make it clear to you out of the sheer fact of redundancy, then perhaps this poem will.
"My Rose"
by Neil Mullins
You, my rose, are beautiful;
You, my rose, are deep.
And you, my rose, have petals
Soft, through which the Light seeps.
You, my rose, smell lovely;
You, my rose, are a flirt.
But you, my rose, have thorns
Sharp, which make my hands hurt.
You, my rose, are colorful;
You, my rose, are young.
For you, my rose, capture my
Gaze, and my heart is flung.
A rose is as love, both pretty and stinging
Yet I will let my hands drip blood whilst I am singing.
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Now playing: Jars of Clay - Something Beautiful
via FoxyTunes
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1 comment:
While it's hard to see those you love suffer, sometimes the end result is better than if they had not gone through the experience. Consider the butterfly, which struggles and appears to "suffer" in the incredible struggle to be free of its cocoon. But without the struggle, the butterfly cannot survive and become the beautiful creature God intended.
The important thing, when someone you care about struggles, is to be there, as you have been, and to help them gain the perspective of looking for how God will mature them through the process, and recognizing how He will use the experience for their ultimate good.
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