Remedy for what ails you

Pain

It was summer.  Naturally it was hot.  That kind of heat that can only find you in the bowels of summer where even the slightest hint of an ice cold coca cola will make your heart skip a beat.  I was at camp.  I was at camp, I was hot, and I had a toothache.  The kind of toothache that even the most extreme doses of ibuprofen cannot even dull.  The only thing that finally relieved my pain was my dad picking me up and taking me for a double root canal.  

When was the last time you felt that kind of pain?  What was your immediate reaction?  

This week I found myself in some discomfort.  I was sick, I had a bit of the post holiday blues, and I was just feeling plain ole depressed.  And what do you know, I made a deal with you, with myself and with the Lord to remain clean this month.  What I am learning is that means to remove all things that dull my heart; whether that be for pleasure or for pain.  The bible tells us to,  "watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life" Proverbs 4:23(NASB).  But how often have I found myself in that very same funk running to a trusty glass of pinot, or a delightful truffle, or better yet hours of mind (and heart) numbing SVU marathons.  Numbing not only the pain but the very source of all my emotions.  So as you can see I found myself in a bit of a predicament.  

Pain.  No Novocain.

We use all kinds of remedies to dull our pain don't we, even if its merely a distraction, an optical illusion of sorts for our cerebral cortex.  An old remedy for a toothache was good ole distilled rye applied directly to the gums.  But how often have I found myself reaching for that same brown bottle (well really more like a red wine bottle, a lady has standards) to dull the aches of my heart.  When does it go from halting a pain deep in your bones to numbing the very source of all your pain, your heart.  

I'm not alone.  There are many of you out there in pain and we are medicating in droves.  In just 3 months in 2013 over 5 million prescriptions were filled for pain medications.  And how many of us find our own version of therapy?  The bottle, the fridge, the mall, the dirty websites on our computers?  And why.  Because we don't want to face the sharp bite of pain alone.  We…I just want a little something to get me through. 

John Keats defended the ruthless schoolyard bully insisting it intricately woven to our very existence,

“Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?” 

― John Keats, Letters of John Keats

C.S. Lewis echoes this position stating that God uses pain to prick our ears to attention, to jerk our hearts towards heaven, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” 

― C.S. Lewis

But what do we all do instead.  Reach for a buffer, a shield for our intelligence and earplugs to the Lord.  We may not have fully developed souls, but our intellect is fully protected and cushioned amongst all of our favorite vices.  

What I discovered this week was not earth shattering but it did rouse my mute slumber.  We all do have a little something to get us through,

“One word

Frees us of all the weight and pain of life:

That word is love.” 

― Sophocles

If our hearts really are the source of all of life, joy and pain, where is the sense in numbing the very place that can actually swing the pendulum the other way?  And if it is true that every time I walk through a dark valley, though I come out a little more haggard, my soul comes out a little more defined.  So why am I subjecting it to slovenly rest?  This week I stopped, I allowed my heart to feel the genuine pain and I realized God was yelling at me through a bullhorn trying to get my attention and refine my character.  And I also realized this was a pain that even extreme doses of self medication couldn't touch.  Just like that horrid dental nightmare, there was something deep rooted in me that needed drilled out of my soul.  I wonder how many of these lessons I have missed in an attempt to feel better, to feel less.  The amazing truth, the amazing gift is that the ultimate salve for all our most harrowing hurts is love.  A little word that requires so little and gives so much.  

Sophocles was a famous playwright during the period of philosophical brilliance in Greece in the 5th century BC.  He's most famed for his plays Oedipus the King and Antigone.  If you've never heard of the Oedipal complex lets just say its safe to assume that Sophocles understood a thing or two about painful awkward family dinners.  And 500 years before love was actualized on earth, when Christ was born in a lowly manger, Sophocles knew the truth, that only love can set us free from the pains of this world.  So this week after some wrestling and some soul refining I finally came to rest.  On truth.  On love.  

John 1:14 (NLT)

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.