What is that ancient proverb about love, pain, and medicine? Do you know it?
Something about how pain, when experienced with love, is medicine. Or maybe pain is lovely medicine. I’m not sure. But the meaning seems universal. God teaches us in our hurts, if we allow it.
That’s what I think, what I see in your reflection. You did look back, ultimately, to move forward, to learn from what is behind so what lies ahead is savored more deeply. Because, remember, the Spirit is here, now, where your feet are, the Living God of the moment and in every moment. When we realize the clearest path is through a wilderness forest, do we need to consider that the trees aren’t only meant for scenery? Hence the problem of pain – we rush through it, avoid it, or ignore it, dismissing the wisdom it holds.
Of course, I’m almost laughing, imagining someone saying to you, “Pain is lovely medicine,” and your unspoken thought, “Oh really, let me tell you a story,” and God giving you the ultimate Word, “Let me show you more about who I am.”
Indeed you had a lot to learn about Everlasting Father and unfailing love. Like a parent teaching a little one to cry it out and soothe themselves to sleep, pain is lovely medicine when you learn our Father was on the other side of the closed door, so you could discover that tears aren’t torture but the first flow of joy.
What do you think? What was God teaching you? I’m going with trust.
