You've probably heard, we've had rain here in Colorado.
Clouds came in from the south, pushed up against the mountains and dropped
everything they had on the Front Range (eastern slopes of the Rockies).
It’s been pretty devastating for a lot of people with homes destroyed, roads washed out, people stranded and lives lost.
I walked out of my office last Friday and looked into the giant drainage ditch we have behind our building. It hadn't rained in five days and water was still rushing down it. Most of the time, there’s no water in it, or maybe just a trickle, but on Friday it was still rolling through at a pretty good pace.
The impact of the rains in the mountains was still being felt, down on the plains days later.
It hit me that this is true in our lives as well. We seem to think that when we experience stress, anxiety, hardship or even tragedy that we should be able to just move on.
Maybe someone has hurt us and we think that we can just shake it off and keep going with our lives, but the current of that event can stay with us for quite some time. It can impact what we think about people, how much we trust them and our view of the world.
And if we have no real way to process it, if there’s no “ditch” to help with the runoff, we can store up some pretty large reservoirs of pain and anger. Eventually it will begin to spill out, hurting our relationships, impacting our actions and even affecting our health.
The river of suffering is different for everyone and God doesn't want us to navigate it alone. It’s why we have each other. Remember that the next time you’re hurting. Tell someone.
Remember too, we really have no idea the deluge some have experienced in their lives. We run into people all the time with a lot of garbage flowing out of them. Before we judge too quickly, remember a lot of people have spent their lives just trying to keep their head above water.
Take the time to hear their story. Maybe it will be the beginning of a “ditch” that will help release a lake of pain.
It’s been pretty devastating for a lot of people with homes destroyed, roads washed out, people stranded and lives lost.
I walked out of my office last Friday and looked into the giant drainage ditch we have behind our building. It hadn't rained in five days and water was still rushing down it. Most of the time, there’s no water in it, or maybe just a trickle, but on Friday it was still rolling through at a pretty good pace.
The impact of the rains in the mountains was still being felt, down on the plains days later.
It hit me that this is true in our lives as well. We seem to think that when we experience stress, anxiety, hardship or even tragedy that we should be able to just move on.
Maybe someone has hurt us and we think that we can just shake it off and keep going with our lives, but the current of that event can stay with us for quite some time. It can impact what we think about people, how much we trust them and our view of the world.
And if we have no real way to process it, if there’s no “ditch” to help with the runoff, we can store up some pretty large reservoirs of pain and anger. Eventually it will begin to spill out, hurting our relationships, impacting our actions and even affecting our health.
The river of suffering is different for everyone and God doesn't want us to navigate it alone. It’s why we have each other. Remember that the next time you’re hurting. Tell someone.
Remember too, we really have no idea the deluge some have experienced in their lives. We run into people all the time with a lot of garbage flowing out of them. Before we judge too quickly, remember a lot of people have spent their lives just trying to keep their head above water.
Take the time to hear their story. Maybe it will be the beginning of a “ditch” that will help release a lake of pain.
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