Is It Good To Get Hurt Bad?

A network of pain & suffering (Photo credit: looking4poetry)

         Today's post is really just a prelim to my Battle of the Bands post that will be coming tomorrow.  It's a bit of a hint of the song I'll be using in my Battle, but with a touch of "controversy" or at least something to gnaw on with your mind.

          Does Getting Hurt Make You Better?

         An argument is often made that pain and suffering builds character.  If we don't know what it's like to be down then we can't understand what real happiness is.   Getting hurt emotionally isn't a great feeling, but if we manage to live through it all and eventually get over it we become tougher.  We are better for having endured and emerged from the depths of darkness.

         We've all been burned in relationships whether it be love, friendship, business, or family.  Some people will hold a grudge and never get over their negative feelings about the person who hurt them. But how much does that accomplish?  We usually hurt ourselves when we do that.  Often the person against whom we hold our grudge doesn't even realize that anything is wrong.  Our resentment becomes a useless burden that we carry around draining our energy and stealing our joy.

       When we've shed the resentment and get over that bad episode in our life we feel better.   Our thoughts are able to turn to more useful enterprises.  If we've learned a lesson that helps us in the future then we have experienced self-improvement and demonstrated the inner strength which we are capable of having.

         Let's face it.   There will always be jerks in the world.   We don't have to be one of them.

         Do you think that holding a grudge ever improves a situation?   Is experiencing pain and suffering good for character building?   Do you feel better when you've gotten over a painful situation?   What is a positive alternative to feeling angry with someone else?   Can you guess what my song pick for tomorrow will be?

Be sure to be here tomorrow for the Battle of the Bands!

Related articles

• Writing People Off
• What the World Needs Now
• Strive for the better
• The Grudge
• Letting go of grudges.

God Can Fix That

           There has been so much in the news of late about the suffering in Haiti.  Sometimes we wonder why God permits terrible things to happen in this world.  On a smaller scale, this past week I have dealt with some severe back pains which several times virtually incapacited me.  Therefore, I have kept some of my blog posts shorter that in the past.  Today's post will be no exception.  I have gotten some painkillers after a visit to the emergency room yesterday.  I was assured that the pain was not anything serious, but I would probably have some discomfort over the next week or two.  Then I see on TV about the people left homeless, with loss of loved ones, in pain and suffering on the streets of Haiti and realize how petty my own problems are in comparision.  Praise God for the blessings we receive every day!

            Here are just a few verses that I have been pondering over and I wanted to share them with you:

 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Romans 8:17-18 (NIV)


For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Romans 8:20-22 (NIV)


When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover
anything about his future.
Ecclesiastes 7:14 (NIV)


 He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."
Exodus 15:26 (NIV)


 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or swerve from them.
Proverbs 4:5 (NIV)


Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding
Proverbs 3:5 (NIV)