Draining Pools of Pain

Lake Kokua -- the parking lot that doesn't drain

Good Morning, God!

Coming home from my Wednesday morning Women’s Prayer Group, I noticed the puddles that had formed after the rain. I noticed first the puddles on a baseball field. Dirt is permeable, God. The puddles won’t last very long. The water soaks slowly into the ground and into the aquifer.

Then I drove into the Kokua food co-op. The parking lot had turned into a lake. This time the water will stay, as it has trouble seeping through the asphalt.

I have found that my Heart has asphalt  patches — places where hurts and pains don’t drain. I am not alone. Recently, my husband Kit recounted an upsetting incident from this summer.  His voice expressed indignation and hurt. The pain had pooled up. This incident had been just rudeness. What do people DO, God, when they have been abandoned or betrayed — deeply hurt?

That was a rhetorical question, God. They suffer! We know full well that we must let go and forgive — drain the pool. Alas, we don’t really know how. Forgiving isn’t a switch we can flip. I guess our mistake is in thinking it could be simple.

I’m sitting here, God, looking at the photo of the flooded parking lot. I’m thinking it needs a drain right in the center — connected to the sewers and then flowing into the ocean. Installing a drain takes hard work and time. Forgiving is like that “drain” — letting the pain go down into Your Heart, God.

You are reminding me that You HAVE told us how to build that necessary “drain”infrastructure: 1) PRAY FOR those who despitefully treat us. 2) BLESS and not to curse. 3) Offer up the sacrifice of praise. Yes, they ALL take hard work and time.

For sure that last one can only be done — through gritted teeth — with Your Help!

About a moment with god

Story teller,