OUR PATHS CROSS WITH OTHERS

 

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My thoughts today. Found nothing else as beautifully encapsulated as this one.  It's all there beautifully expressed like none other.

My prayer that God pour out upon you blessings far more than your heart can hold.

CROSSES VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE

The world in truth and fact is a miserable place. It holds so much of stuff we don’t really want and yet are because somebody up there thinks we need to be better functioning creatures of this planet called earth. I won’t argue that because I agree. It’s a long tedious process of becoming worthy of life in the here and now.. and of what’s coming when we move on to the next realm. Wherever that is. Meantime, what are we doing with the world and with ourselves as the process carries us along? I can tick off a long list of gloom and misery we have given the world and given ourselves, but you wouldn’t want to hear about something that which you already know or have on your list too.

Well, some people call it crosses, others consider it burdens, a good number call it challenges. If we are to look at it as something which lies heavy on our backs and carry wherever we go like it or not… for some reason partly our mistake and often beyond our control….then maybe we should call it a cross. A parallel view would be the cross on the shoulders of the Galilean who carried it to his death on Golgotha. But am not going there, we’re not talking about religion here. But I will write about crosses.

Like we all do know life is definitely not a bed of roses. Whoever says it is must be looking the other way or is related to Annie of the Broadway play but which, incidentally, is a play I adore. Good songs in there. But factually the Annie’s of the world are far and few. And some have moved on to be saints.

Anyway personal crosses are so much more deep profound and difficult. Maybe it’s because you have no help in dealing with it. Unlike if you were the head of a nation and you got dozens of people around you who you could send out to the field to kill the enemy. But that doesn’t always solve the problem. We know that because history tells us so. People’s crosses come in different sizes, shapes, weight, intensity, and diversity… visible and invisible. We see people struggling with their jobs, families, health, relationships, worship, leadership, communications, inventions, and we understand truly sympathizing and feeling compassion or connection with them. After all we all stand connected and are visibly the same in such things and perhaps even more.

But yes there's more. Can we.....

-- see truly what goes on inside a person suffering his cross
-- see the pain grief or sorrow buried hidden inside
-- understand how it is to keep hope alive in the midst of hopelessness
-- grasp his feelings of inadequacy or insecurity that despite his enormous talent others are getting recognition for a much inferior job
-- feel the torment suffered in silence by a person bound to a wheelchair
-- truly understand broken hearts, broken dreams, and broken lives languishing within
-- and so much more.

The invisible crosses they carry on their frail and burdened shoulders are twice heavier because they carry it alone. No we don’t see that plastered all over their faces – advertised in big bold letters, no we don’t. We won’t see it, maybe because they are so good at putting up the brave face of courage hope and faith. Funny but they never seem to give up. You know sometimes the crosses that people bear are seldom in plain sight. Sometimes ...we can't even tell just by looking at them.

And you know what.. they mirror us. We have our crosses too both visible and invisible. We all do. But we never should give up too. Maybe..... "The sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow --- there'll be sun...." (Annie)

WE DON'T HAVE TO BE SOMEBODY ELSE'S CROSS

When your bones ache, or your head does, or your insides rock and your limbs feel like crumbling... when nothing comes close to easing your pains, you feel like screaming your lungs out -- and you do! Well, maybe not literally but it finds its way in fury which is often meaninglessly and unnecessarily heaped upon the person or people near you or who by chance happen to be in its way. That's sad, because you have not only added to your misery but made others miserable too by yours.

Suffering in whatever form and of any kind is difficult. It is hard to imagine what goes on in that person's mind or what is being felt in the heart. Physical or emotional pain is a burden that runs deep and intense that it upsets everything else within and without. The strong are reduced to putty and the weak are made even weaker. The world seems to crumble down with that person along with it... or so he would think.

I will not venture to give advise on this matter because the lesson here is better understood when one has already mellowed in years and gained much in wisdom. But there are some though young are so blessed and filled with the spirit who would understand -- as the saints have shown us.

So what am I driving at here?

I am simply sharing an observation --- that people who suffer pain tend to vent their frustration and helplessness in serious expressions of anger. And this often leads to hurting others more than we imagine. But there is no point in bringing in other people into your suffering. They, just like the rest of humankind, have their own crosses to bear too. We all have and all do. Thus it would be best to remember what Maya Angelou once said.....

'I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one..'