Issue 389
Sometimes a writer can start writing one idea and end up writing something completely different; this is what has happened here.
As you read this piece, you may be aware that you have absolutely no pain in your body; possibly you may be sitting at your PC aware of pain everywhere in your body; most of you will be somewhere between. The point I set out to write was that pain can be a thief of the present, robbing you of your ability to enjoy the moment and achieve what you want to achieve. Perhaps that is true, but the more I write, the more it is dawning on me that perhaps the opposite is true; comfort and ease could be the thieves. It is when you feel no struggle, no battle, no hardship, that there is the possibility of complacency, day dreaming or hubris.
Perhaps we should test this idea: consider what happens to you when something hurts; it seems to focus your mind on the ‘here and now’. Depending on the level of hurt, it can begin to consume your energy and attention; you certainly are now present in the moment – for to be anywhere else would be an unaffordable luxury.
The operative phrase above is ‘depending on the level of hurt’. There may be a threshold just below which pain heightens your awareness of the present, yet allows you to achieve; above that it absorbs your energy and, although it keeps you focused, becomes the sole focus.
Let’s explore it biblically: Paul spoke about his thorn in his flesh; this was some human pain which disturbed him. Although he did not welcome it, he saw it as a way of keeping him from conceit (hubris?), dependant on God’s gifts and allowing God’s power to take first place in his life; for Paul the pain was a means of keeping him grounded.
For the woman bent double for eighteen years and the woman with haemorrhaging for twelve, it was too much and Jesus put a stop to it. In the story of the prodigal son, it seems that his pain levels were too low until he came to his senses and went home.
So what is the thief of the present? I would suggest to you that for each one of us there is a balance between comfort and discomfort: too comfortable and you forget, achievement goes down – the present gets stolen and your work suffers; too uncomfortable and you become consumed with managing the discomfort – the present is stolen and your work suffers.
Somewhere on this sliding scale exists a level which keeps you alert, helps you focus and provokes you to achieve. Where that is will vary from person to person, year to year, and perhaps even day by day; what is certain is that God trusts you with a combination with which you can cope and which will bring the best out of you. It’s very difficult to judge where your threshold is; perhaps only God can be the judge. Extreme pain and extreme comfort may be the impostors -judge for yourself.
If you want to explore the theme in more detail, I think there is a whole book in the bible about it. It’s name? – Judges!
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7 Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
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Geoff Shattock
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