Saturday, September 27, 2008

Backwards Truth


“Don’t think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too.” Philippians 2:4

An author named Nancy Guthrie wrote that after her infant daughter passed away, she was anxious to discover the secret to relieving her terrible hurt and pain. Shortly after, an elderly widow moved in next door and was overwhelmed with the work of caring for a home on her own, so Nancy decided to go over and pull weeds and trim hedges for her. “As I exerted energy in serving someone else….my focus moved from my pain to hers. And it was a relief. It was a distraction. It was an outlet. It was a step toward healing. That day I discovered the secret of serving…”

“…People have told me that they simply can’t start reaching out to other people until their load of grief lightens. But it is the reaching out to others in the midst of your pain, uniquely because of your pain, that is the secret to lightening you unbearable load.”

I have to say I whole-heartily agree. Serving others and focusing on their needs is the only thing that helps lighten the load of my pain, too. I know it seems backwards – but most of Truth always seems to turn out that way. You don’t get better before you come to God – you come to God and He makes you better. You don’t run from God to find freedom in life – you let His arms engulf you and hold you fast in order to experience freedom without regret. To find real life, you must lose your life. To be first you must be last. And to lighten the load of grief, you must bear the grief and burdens of someone else.

It’s truly backwards – but that’s how I know it’s true!

I have been nothing but blessed as we’ve worked toward organizing the RIPPLE Care Network. I first began to consider it back in March and now I’m so glad we’re actually acting on it!

Spending time with those who are homebound, arranging meals for families in need, organizing the rummage sale for the less fortunate of Lemont are the things that have begun to slide the broken pieces of my heart back into place.

It’s backwards again. I’m in pain and instead of tending to my own scars, I tend to the scars of others and mine begin to heal. I’m exhausted and instead of resting I bear the burdens of others and find my strength renewed. It is a beautiful secret – the healing balm of service. When you need it the most is when it’s time to reach out and give it away instead.

It’s the amazing backwards Truth of Life!

I love how Nancy puts it: “You can keep sitting around waiting to feel better, or you can get up, look around, and seek out someone to serve. Prove me wrong. I dare you.”

I double dare you! :-)

andi