I still remember this commercial I saw as a kid. It was for some kind of pain relief and the lyrics of the music were “I haven’t got time for the pain.” Somewhere internally I recall thinking, good luck with that. Life has all kinds of pain. It is this strange philosophy that seems to exist with us humans that we want to exclude the parts we don’t like. I am not a hedonist, I do not seek out pain or discomfort but it does happen. I don’t revel in it but I have come to terms with the idea that perhaps there is more to it than my limited perspective of not having time for it. Life has a way of directing us to what we do or do not have time for. I always think pain is the great equalizer. No one gets through this life without it and it is one of the things which we can all relate to. It comes in many different forms and in my recovery I have learned to cultivate a different relationship with it. I mean really, if it exists, then it must be in the design. If God created it in the design it is either because it serves some sort of purpose for growth or because God is bored and sadistic. I have had my moments of believing the latter but found nothing but despair and apathy. God invites us to create new relationships with all kinds of life’s experiences. To pause and step outside of the accepted conversation steering from what human’s have decided and take a closer look. Ironically the remedy to pain is not to run from it, but to give it time to tell me why its here. What it is to teach me. After all, it is neither good nor bad, but my thinking makes it so. It may be inconvenient but who said life was supposed to be convenient. Probably the same people who say life is supposed to be fair. Engaging in the relationship with God means opening myself up more and more to how God sees things and how God sees me. I know from my daily dates with God that the loving vision God has of me is much greater than I have of me. God trusts in my strength, my courage, my compassion, my ability to feel and connect, my desire to know all of what life has to offer, and so much more. When I am faced with pain I fall for my beliefs about me. Those are always limited. Strangely the remedy to life’s pain has become a willingness to lean more deeply into God. Not because God will rescue me from it but because wants to reveal to me who God knows me to be deep down.
Are we curious enough to make time for the pain and discover God’s remedy today?
dailydatewithgod 
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