It is also true that rest awaits. I believe C.S. Lewis said somewhere that man has the capacity to endure suffering only as long as he has to – that once the suffering has ended, he will have the experience that he could not have possibly endured one minute more. This is the other thing that makes our suffering bearable: we know there is respite when it is finished. This day will end at some point and you will be able to sleep. This ...
Someone gave me this bit of wisdom once: she said, “the pain tells me that I am alive.” She was battling cancer and all the pain and agony that go along with that, and she stopped taking her pain medication almost altogether. She is a brave soul. She said when the meds covered all of the pain, she would wake up and not know if she was alive or dead. Her illness had progressed to a point where she could go any time, and she didn’t want to be in a drug-induced stupor. She wanted ...
It is important that we believe in people. I mean, we should not put our trust solely in people, but people benefit from our faith in them. We also benefit when we trust others. It is far too easy to get cynical. When people wrong you, or just appear different than you, it is easy to write them off. But our differences are what stretch us and make us grow. If you write people off, you are missing your opportunity to grow.
Everything around you in the world will convince you not to have faith. Your ...
There is this diagnostic category in the DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual: the tool by which mental health professionals diagnose) which contains the personality disorders. What defines personality disorders is that the people who have them have basically organized themselves toward the world in a certain way. They interact with many different people in many different situations in a “maladaptive” way. You could say their personalities have “crystallized” in this ...
We must believe in the good in people. I’m not saying that everything everyone does is okay. In fact, people do terrible, terrible things at others’ expense – things deserving of punishment. I am saying, however, that I believe that every being is capable of being redeemed. If you do not believe that, then where is your hope and what is your hope in?
I have yet to meet a person that did not start out desiring to be loved. Many of the things we do to hurt others come about because ...