Pain an choice

(thoughtful)

Loneliness is hideous.
There is simply no way we can get around the soul-shredding grief that comes from losing someone we love dearly in death.

There is a pain in missing those we hold dear from whom we are separated by distance.
Happily, e-mail allows us to stay bonded in mind and heart from day to day.
The love and relationship can keep thriving because the investment of time and caring remains unabated.

Ongoing silence from the ones we love is the subtlest and the most painful rejection of all.
But one learns to live with it. We do not have to accept the punishment others deal us because it gives them a sense of power. Silence is a spear I can deflect.

Loss of friendship is painful.
Without explanation, without rhyme nor reason,
someone you thought and valued as a friend is no longer there.

Physical pain and loss of health are major crosses.
Yet we take good health for granted and merrily abuse our bodies as if we were invincible.
So we take care of our health as assiduously as we care for our possessions because health is a primary asset.

Loss of material things we value is nothing to sniff at either.
It is an ongoing struggle not to be attached to the things we own.
So we meet and get acquainted with St. Francis' Lady Poverty.

Failure doesn't faze me because failure is my familiar as well as my teacher.
Churchill said, "Success is never final. Failure is never fatal.
It is courage that counts." I claim I have never failed because I'm still in here trying.

Criticism, disapproval, insult, anger - all hurt.
And so we turn to "Do good to those who hurt you.
Bless those who curse you."
And constantly I remind myself that
WE LOVE GOD AS MUCH AS THE PERSON WE LOVE THE LEAST.

Feeling that we don't measure up, that we fall short,
that we are inadequate nags even the strongest of us.
So God says, "My grace is sufficient for thee"
and I can say, "When I am weak, then I am strong,"
for God's power is made perfect in my weakness.

Spear, deflect. Arrow, deflect. Bullet, deflect.
We have that choice - we

(Father Rick)
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Love can make you happy but often times it hurts,
but love's only special when you give it to whom it's worth.
So take your time and choose the best.

Indo community