Page 23 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 5

RE- DEFINITION
have felt pain before, I have
I the place of humility and consid- will make you see what God is
cried before, I have felt like
God disappeared for a mo-
ment, especially the moment
when I thought I needed Him the
most to at least show me what
to do about life's issues. And
when I finally felt He was around
again, He didn't even “apolo-
gize for 'leaving'" even though I
thought He would, but He only
reminded me of how God He is
when He said "I never left and I
will never leave you".
Surely, pain come to us all in
different forms and each one
responds to pain differently. So
I can't say I know or understand
your specific pain and neither
can I say I have the answer to
how to respond to it. But one
thing however is clear and like
most things that happen in our
lives; pain is not necessarily a
bad thing if understood for what
it is. There are lots of ways to
see or respond to pain when
they appear in our lives, but per- aspect of pain as a reminder
mit me to just highlight two that I
have personally used or which I
have learnt to use.
Pain as a stopper
There is something about pain
and hardship that we face in
life and how they birth in us
and with us new perspectives
about life and living. For me
personally, I believe pain was
created to be a stopper on our
life's road. Yeah…that sounds
weird I guess. See it like a red
traffic light that makes you stop
to think and reconsider the fact
that you are not alone after all
on this journey of life. There are
other “road users” riding right
beside you, adjacent to you and
even opposite you especially.
Pains are like reminders; they
are sent to us to make us stop,
review and reconsider life from
www.msingiafrikamagazine.com
eration for others. I have read
showing you about others. This
a few times the stories of privi-
has happened to me several
how the mind of God works over
leged people who lived with so times and I get to understand
much pride and out of this world
kind of attitudes. To them, no distances and how to respond to
human being is worth anything. such.
They created this fantasy about Something else also stands out
themselves in their heads that about pains; I think they are
tends to make others look like specially ingrained in the lives of
jokers, either because they are those who have been destined
rich, or from a rich family or even to be custodians of life's wisdom
academic geniuses. To them, and understanding. It's almost
others are only useful when they as if there is no one who has cut
give strength to their futile fan- through life’s average that didn’t
tasies. And as it has been with go through one pain, persecu-
most of such people, they only tion or the other. This reality is
come to their senses on their so true that I wonder if there is
sick beds when their money and ever any other way to learn life's
the futile bodies that they have wisdom apart from the hardship
spent so much money to pack- and the pain we face. We live
age can't seem to help. Right in a hyper real world where the
there in their helpless state, they god of this world called self has
begin to rethink life and the fu- a lot of influence; a self-centered
tility in it and then somehow, world in which men have forgot-
especially the one God decides ten how to be human among
to help, they repent of their mad- men. A dirty, capitalistic world
ness and become humble. This where it’s easy for people to
see others just as pawns in the
to stop and review has worked grand money scheme of things.
for me very much to the point It’s a sad world we have creat-
where if I hit my toe on a stone ed and I think the Divine Judge
or if something happens that is of heaven has a way of bringing
not usual, I immediately get very pain our way just so maybe we
sensitive about things around can learn to wake up from our
me and put things under quick little luxurious bed of selfishness
judgment to see if I am missing and self-glorification and realize
something or if the divine mind that life is not so much about us
of God is pointing something out alone, but about all.
for me to see. And I am not say-
ing that the ultimate way to be Pain in obedience
sensitive is through pain alone, Of Jesus who is also God, it is
but that being able to stop and written that He learned obedi-
review in the face of pain is ence by the things He suffered.
surely a way to demystify pain Now what is obedience? Obedi-
and make it work positively for ence is simply the alignment of a
us. Sometimes, for those that man with the wisdom and mind
are prophets, they even receive of God which causes such a
the pains of others that may be man to take actions that he may
thousands of miles away from not necessarily want to take
them, whether they know them outside of such alignment to
or not. Sensitivity to stop and God. In the case of Jesus, and
review in the face of such pain sometimes in our lives also, God
heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika | 23