Friday, June 10, 2011

Lessons from a skinned knee

When I was little we lived in a house right on the edge of a huge (well maybe it wasn't that huge but when you are 4 everything is much bigger!) church parking lot.  One of our favorite things to do was ride our bikes for hours in that parking lot.
I loved riding on my pink powder puff trike and other bikes which came as I got older.  So many happy memories flood into my mind as I think of those days riding with my siblings in that parking lot.  But some of the memories that I now look at with affection started out horribly for that little girl I used to be.  Falls are pretty much guaranteed with riding bikes, or with running and playing outside.  And I was no exception.  I skinned my knees more than a couple times, or skinned my palms trying to break a fall.  Concrete and gravel hurts!   A few things come to me mind when I think of those accidents I had riding bikes or playing outside as a child.

1.  Falling is part of learning.  I am sure that as I learned how to ride I fell less often, I probably adjusted the way I was riding or watching out for others and avoided frequent falls as I got older.  I feel sorry for kids whose parents don't let them learn through falling (or try to protect them to an extreme point) - because I think these lessons are an important part of growing and learning.  Even these first lessons in pain are valuble later in life. 

2.  Sometimes it has to hurt more before it gets better.  I remember falling and having pieces of gravel stuck in my hand - as I ran screaming to Mama she held me and comforted me but then did something I couldn't understand at the time, she washed my scrapes and got the gravel out of my bleeding wound.  And as if that wasn't painful enough she put Bactene (sp?) on which STINGS on open wounds!  What kind of loving Mama would cause so much more pain to a little child who was already hurt!?  Maybe this lesson is the most important as I grow up.  If God is the loving Father I believe Him to be, could it be that He knows best and maybe the pain I am having is Him cleaning me and protecting me from dangerous things (such as infection in a scrape but so much more deadly things spiritually etc). 

3.  Compassion.  You have to go through some kind of pain to learn compassion.  Whenever I see a child with a skinned knee I am taken back to those days and I remember how horrible it felt to get hurt as a child.  Something that wouldn't be a big deal now was traumatic as a child.  I can show compassion as sympathy to others because of pain I have felt physically and emotionally.  After a painful break up (which later ended up to be my Husband!)  I had much more understanding and compassion for anyone in that situation.  My heart feels that horrible pain of being alone and abandoned and God uses that to touch others who are hurting in a similar way.  I have a lot to learn about true compassion, but I want to be willing to allow God to teach me and I see that one way is through suffering of my own.

How can God use the pain you might be facing today?  Be willing to learn and to have compassion for others.

3 comments:

  1. Maybe God IS using those painful things that bother me so much to cleanse me and protect me from much worse things. Thanks for reminding me today. His love is so much bigger than all of my little woes could count!

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  2. Hi Lic,
    I was thinking of you yesterday and today so I thought I might hop on here and share something with you.

    Yesterday during bible study the last verse of Psalm 100 was read: "For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." This verse brought an old song to mind immediately. It was one of Stephen Hinkle's old tunes that you and Rach brought back from Precepts camp one year. It took some thinking to remember how it went but I believe I have it now!

    Wish I could write the tune out, but instead I'll write the lyrics and maybe the rest will follow for you. I just know that remembering this song has really blessed my day today and I wanted to pass that along.

    "Make a joyful noise before Him,
    Let us serve the Lord with gladness,
    Let us come before Him singing,
    Knowing that the Lord is God.

    It is He who has made us,
    And not we, ourselves,
    We're the sheep and He's the Shepard,
    In His pasture we will dwell.

    For the Lord is good,
    And His mercy endures,
    To every generation,
    And every place and ti-i-i-i-ime.

    La la la la la la lala
    La la la la la lala
    La la la la la la lala
    La la la la la lala!"

    Love ya!
    Mich

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  3. Hi Mish! SO wonderful to hear from you and to be brought back to those wonderful words Stephen wrote about our Shepherd. God bless you today friend!
    love you too
    lic

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