Then Paul went down on his knees, all of them kneeling with him, and prayed. And then a river of tears. Much clinging to Paul, not wanting to let him go. They knew they would never see him again—he had told them quite plainly. The pain cut deep. Then, bravely, they walked him down to the ship. (Acts 20:36-38)I love that as a leader, Paul didn't believe he had to maintain a facade of strength and hide his tears. I love that in his drivenness for the gospel, he didn't set up protective boundaries to keep pressing on, but let the people cling to him. I love that he didn't deny nor distract himself from the pain that "cut deep." He embraced the moment and entered the pain. In it, he found a deeper strength and thirst for God.
"...whenever hurt is present, it must be embraced as an opportunity to enter more richly into the reality of a world in need of redemption. The effect of pain can be to increase our thirst for God and our desire to live for Him." (Larry Crabb, Understanding People)This morning I was talking with a friend, catching up on life, kids, and end-of-year school stuff. (Today is the last day of school for my girls.) As I shared with her, the tears came. Not sad tears, not frustration tears, just tears of being overwhelmed with the tensions of mothering and the feeling that time with my girls is "slipping through my fingers." It's not the first time they've spilled out in the past weeks, just another moment of embracing what it means to love deeply and to experience loss that comes with life phases.
Like Paul, we are called to share the gospel and we are also called to enter the pain that inevitably comes with this mission. Not for the sake of the experience, but for the desire for God it creates in us. Here are some questions from Crabb to consider when this pain comes.
Do you tend to move into pain or avoid it? When you have moved into it, did it increase your desire to live for God? What did that look like?
No comments:
Post a Comment