“As
Christians we must always correct our own hearts... so that we don’t get
carried away by the cares of this world.”
~A. W. Tozer
I got to thinking recently, that, although
I am not an overt target for bullying, I can actually be bullied. And
especially in the case of an authority figure who has authoritarian tendencies.
It runs down the history of my life. I am getting to explore the source of it.
The good thing about this sort of problem is that it illustrates that anyone
can implement restorative strategies for healing the heart. These strategies
merely require that we own, and work with, our own stuff.
The great gift of life is to know
that, in accepting only our own issues, can we become better and not bitter.
It is a great gift to know that
many hurts done against us were not our fault, and could never have been. It is
also a great gift to know that the damage we retain needs always to be dealt
with. So, on the one hand, our wounds are not our fault, but on the other hand,
we must still deal with the ongoing effects
of those wounds.
When History Repeats Itself
It can be embittering, even
humiliating, for us to discover that our woundedness brings us back,
repetitively it seems, to similar situations and similar ways of handling those
situations.
Perhaps the abuses we suffered
early on are more profound compared to the abuses we suffer today. But today’s
abuses have about them the ability to link us back with our pasts. Our problem
is our past, perhaps unconsciously, becomes lived in the present.
As I look over my life regarding
being bullied, besides the temptation to be bitter toward my bullies, if I am
honest, I can see a pattern that leads me back to my own ways of dealing with
things. History has repeated itself and that is my clue.
And as I survey my life, exploring
the patterns where authority figures may have abused their power, I can begin
to understand my susceptibility to even the slightest abuse of power. I can
begin to understand how the cares of this world impact on me. I can begin to
recognise how these have wounded me.
And by understanding how the world
hurts me I can begin to plan for those hurts. For, if history has repeated
itself I can expect it to continue that way in my future.
Taking Responsibility For Our Hearts
In the pantomime that is my life
and yours, we are the starring actors. The world is a stage, other people are
co-actors, and the Broadway play is life. The show always revolves around us.
And we can do nothing about this. We wouldn’t want to do anything about it. We
have our own self-interest to look after.
But other forces and influences can
become damagingly pivotal. They have wounded us.
Being that we have our
self-interest to look after, however, we are called to nurture our hearts,
particularly in the case of our hurts. If we do, we can deal with our world and
we can live a happy life. If we don’t, our world gets on top of us and we
flounder.
We can afford ourselves compassion
for our woundedness. We can and we should.
***
Everyday problems reveal hurts
central to our identities in our hearts. People and situations merely irritate otherwise
primal wounds. Our control is in our response. It’s our freedom, too.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
Excellent post, once again. Fitting for my current journey.... Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Trudy. God bless.
ReplyDelete