the past two years have been a bit of a drought with my writing... motivation and inspiration. recently i have become inspired again, so i am digging back into the journals that i did manage to press out over that difficult time and will be sharing some of that here.
straight from my journal...
January 17th, 2009
been pondering weakness... our weakness... human weakness. it doesn't seem that our society allows for a person to be weak. it seems that particularly in the Church, one is expected to pull it together and keep moving forward. had a thought yesterday - even warriors break down sometimes, even they need rest and refreshment and restoration. the bottom line is time. healing takes time. broken bones need time to set before being used in the way they once were. things break us at times.
my dad broke his collar bone when he was a kid and he was so terrified to tell his father that he just left it that way. the bone didn't heal correctly, so one shoulder sits lower than the other. i think many of us go through life suffering with things that are broken, because everyone expects us to suck it up and keep moving forward. we are not allowed to grieve... i don't think we know how. grief doesn't just come when a person dies. disappointment, hurts, failures, shattered hopes and dreams - these things break us and if we don't let it heal properly, we go through life lame... limping... broken.
trauma happens in our lives and when it does, we find ourselves needing more care than we would otherwise. simple, daily tasks which are normally easy, become things which require help from the outside to accomplish. just as it is with physical trauma, our hearts and minds need a recovery period. and who is to say how long that should take for each individual and situation. time. rest. these are concepts that our culture does not understand or give allowance for. you must be strong. you must carry your weight. you must, at the very least, pretend that life is not painful. push through the pain. fight.
the New Testament is full of references to weakness. Paul speaks of boasting in his weaknesses, in fact he says, the only thing worth boasting about is how 'His strength is made perfect through our weakness'. what is our role as the body of Christ in the recovery of broken hearts and the strengthening of the weak? Romans 15:1-2 says, "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up."
within the meaning of the Hebrew word used for encourage are these words: to strengthen, to cure, to help, repair, fortify, to catch, to confirm, to hold. within the Hebrew meaning of 'to be encouraged' is to be recovered, be repaired, to lean, to be made strong. in Ezekiel 34 there is a rebuke that came to the shepherds of Israel. verse 4 says, "You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured." we are instructed throughout the New Testament to encourage each other daily and to be encouraged. Paul says in Colossians 2:2 that his purpose is that they(the Church) may be encouraged in heart and united in love.
we are weak... it's what makes us able to be used by God. if ever we are strong, it is because He has made His 'strength perfect through our weakness'.
straight from my journal...
January 17th, 2009
been pondering weakness... our weakness... human weakness. it doesn't seem that our society allows for a person to be weak. it seems that particularly in the Church, one is expected to pull it together and keep moving forward. had a thought yesterday - even warriors break down sometimes, even they need rest and refreshment and restoration. the bottom line is time. healing takes time. broken bones need time to set before being used in the way they once were. things break us at times.
my dad broke his collar bone when he was a kid and he was so terrified to tell his father that he just left it that way. the bone didn't heal correctly, so one shoulder sits lower than the other. i think many of us go through life suffering with things that are broken, because everyone expects us to suck it up and keep moving forward. we are not allowed to grieve... i don't think we know how. grief doesn't just come when a person dies. disappointment, hurts, failures, shattered hopes and dreams - these things break us and if we don't let it heal properly, we go through life lame... limping... broken.
trauma happens in our lives and when it does, we find ourselves needing more care than we would otherwise. simple, daily tasks which are normally easy, become things which require help from the outside to accomplish. just as it is with physical trauma, our hearts and minds need a recovery period. and who is to say how long that should take for each individual and situation. time. rest. these are concepts that our culture does not understand or give allowance for. you must be strong. you must carry your weight. you must, at the very least, pretend that life is not painful. push through the pain. fight.
the New Testament is full of references to weakness. Paul speaks of boasting in his weaknesses, in fact he says, the only thing worth boasting about is how 'His strength is made perfect through our weakness'. what is our role as the body of Christ in the recovery of broken hearts and the strengthening of the weak? Romans 15:1-2 says, "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up."
within the meaning of the Hebrew word used for encourage are these words: to strengthen, to cure, to help, repair, fortify, to catch, to confirm, to hold. within the Hebrew meaning of 'to be encouraged' is to be recovered, be repaired, to lean, to be made strong. in Ezekiel 34 there is a rebuke that came to the shepherds of Israel. verse 4 says, "You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured." we are instructed throughout the New Testament to encourage each other daily and to be encouraged. Paul says in Colossians 2:2 that his purpose is that they(the Church) may be encouraged in heart and united in love.
we are weak... it's what makes us able to be used by God. if ever we are strong, it is because He has made His 'strength perfect through our weakness'.
Comments
Glad you are writing again.xoxo