From Loss and Pain to Toss and Gain

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”

― ANN LANDERS (1918–2002)

Wellness is wonder; a salubrious state of mind,

It brings into view tranquility only one can find,

Gains can be made through the very things we lose,

Shalom is the state of heart we very well choose.

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Losses are experienced such that we might find the shortcut to peace; peace with God ― that, we cannot control our lives. Many mysteries we cannot comprehend; that which hurts has its purpose in surrender ― that God might show us something we’d never seen before. What a lesson we learn in choosing to unknow everything we previously claimed as our knowledge about life.

Losses can truly be the beginning ― of life.

Let’s Dig Deeper Into What This Means

Wellness is a mystery to many who would wish to claim it for their own. It’s a concept far beyond physical fitness, health, or an absence of disease. It’s far more holistic than we realise, and it fits neatly in the realm of healing.

There is a completeness to healing; by virtue of its core healing is wholeness with integrity. Integrity is that sense of intrinsic togetherness that unites one soul within him or herself under God. Being at one with ourselves is being at one with God. That is what it is to be known as someone with a heart after God.

Coming close enough to access healing is essentially about being in the situation of loss and pain in order to learn how to toss unto gain. We must toss these losses into the heart of God, surrendering them, whilst not denying their reality. In such a place we learn to let go of that which we have lost, and simultaneously we stare our reality in the face – as much as we are able – without letting the reality tear us apart. It can only be done with God, as we rally with him in his divine grace that helps us be gentle with ourselves.

In this way, above, we actively choose for a state of Shalom.

***

We cannot control life or everything that happens in our lives, for instance, grief. There is a role for loss in life. Loss proves us to have loved. We wouldn’t experience loss unless we had loved. Having lost, we are halfway to a sense for gain beyond all loss. As we toss our pain back into the heart of God – at the foot of the cross of Jesus of Nazareth – we become open to healing. Healing (Shalom) is a choice.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.