This morning as I was catching up with my friends on Face Book a friend posted something that really upset me. It was a comment about someone that he knows, who has evidently threatened to hurt himself. This post struck a nerve with me and I had to post a response of my own.
The "conversation" went back and forth between my friend and myself with another person jumping in and adding their opinion as well. The general consensus from their side was that the person was trying to get attention, and that if they really wanted to die then they should just go ahead and get it over with. My opinion was that the person was reaching out for help in the only way that they knew how. And they that they needed understanding and help.
After a few interchanges I decided that the best thing for me was to un-friend my friend, so that I no longer had to read the posts that he and his friends were posting.
But what really upset me was the callousness of my friend and his friend. We all need to work to understand those around us, and realize that each is dealing with their own demons. I know that my action of un-friending was not the answer, but it was the best thing for me to do at the time. I just pray that the person that was the subject of the conversation receives the help that they are so desperately reaching out for.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Hurt Feelings
A friend of mine was hurt by a fellow church member. And because of this she has decided to resign her duties in the church and worship else where. She has talked to me about this and plans on visiting my church, although we are of different faiths. I am struggling with her decision to turn her back her church, because of this one person.
I keep asking myself what would Jesus do, and is this what God wants her to do. I myself have done the same thing. There was a time that I chose to worship in a different church, much for the same reason. Was I wrong in doing this? I do not know, what I do know is that changing my place of worship allowed me to meet and get to know people that I otherwise would not have. I also allowed me to lick my wounds and heal the hurts that had been inflicted. But my situation was a little different than that of my friend. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself.
Churches are dying, especially those small churches that I remember from my childhood, and the blame is due in part to situations such as this. Someone says something and we decide that we can no longer worship God under the same roof as they do. Is this what our father would have us to do. As I think and pray on it, no is the answer that I keep getting.
We all have faults, and we are all different. And it is our responsibility as Christians to learn to live in peace with one another and work together to spread the word.
We all have good days and bad days, and we will all get our feelings hurt and hurt the feelings of those around us, and how we deal with those situations is how we will be judged.
I keep asking myself what would Jesus do, and is this what God wants her to do. I myself have done the same thing. There was a time that I chose to worship in a different church, much for the same reason. Was I wrong in doing this? I do not know, what I do know is that changing my place of worship allowed me to meet and get to know people that I otherwise would not have. I also allowed me to lick my wounds and heal the hurts that had been inflicted. But my situation was a little different than that of my friend. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself.
Churches are dying, especially those small churches that I remember from my childhood, and the blame is due in part to situations such as this. Someone says something and we decide that we can no longer worship God under the same roof as they do. Is this what our father would have us to do. As I think and pray on it, no is the answer that I keep getting.
We all have faults, and we are all different. And it is our responsibility as Christians to learn to live in peace with one another and work together to spread the word.
We all have good days and bad days, and we will all get our feelings hurt and hurt the feelings of those around us, and how we deal with those situations is how we will be judged.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Belonging
It seems that I have struggled to fit in and belong for most of my life. My earliest memories of childhood and school were feelings of standing on the outside looking in. Never seeming to fit, for years I have felt like a square peg around nothing but round holes.
Even in with family, where we should feel the most secure and accepted, I have felt like an outsider. My parents were divorced when I was around 10 and both remarried. My mother several times. My father only once more, to a wonderful lady that I call mom. I love my stepmother dearly and I refer to her children as my brother and sisters. But when you look at family photos, you will see the division, hers and his.
I am most likely then only one that notices this division. All of the rest have children of their own and have built families of their own. I am the only one that clings to them like a drowning person clings to a life raft. I am the only one that is desperate to belong and to be a part of the family.
It hurts to hear my "mom" talk to me about "her kids" as if I were a neighbor that she confides in, and not actually on of the kids. I try to understand how difficult it must be to feel equally about children that you gave birth to and children that you "married". But even though I try my best to understand, it still hurts.
It hurts to be excluded from pictures because I am not a real sister. Especially when I have accepted them as my siblings, and love them and their children as if we were related by blood.
Even in with family, where we should feel the most secure and accepted, I have felt like an outsider. My parents were divorced when I was around 10 and both remarried. My mother several times. My father only once more, to a wonderful lady that I call mom. I love my stepmother dearly and I refer to her children as my brother and sisters. But when you look at family photos, you will see the division, hers and his.
I am most likely then only one that notices this division. All of the rest have children of their own and have built families of their own. I am the only one that clings to them like a drowning person clings to a life raft. I am the only one that is desperate to belong and to be a part of the family.
It hurts to hear my "mom" talk to me about "her kids" as if I were a neighbor that she confides in, and not actually on of the kids. I try to understand how difficult it must be to feel equally about children that you gave birth to and children that you "married". But even though I try my best to understand, it still hurts.
It hurts to be excluded from pictures because I am not a real sister. Especially when I have accepted them as my siblings, and love them and their children as if we were related by blood.
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