It comes down to my struggle to forgive, I think, and not taking time to work through it all. For me, it is easier to just build a list of enemies to avoid than to truly see through their words to the pain they are expressing as well. It seems that everyone most of the time is living out of their pain that they have experienced as opposed to their love and life.
I guess it is because it seems we have been trained to focus on it. When we got grades in school, the ones we focused on were the bad ones, not the ones we excelled in. It is this societal mold that we each try to fit in with no one ever doing it well, so we live out of this pain.
It is when I embrace my uniqueness, that I often time find I am able to live out of the life, and even start to see others life offerings as well.
This is very true in regards to my call as a youth pastor. If I focus on the mold the church people think I should fit in, then I find myself leading to pain. But, if I continue to focus, in my call, to the Imago Dei, I can truly begin to lead others. Not only because I can see how God sees me more clearly, but also I can begin to see them more like God does too.
I find that this is what prayer does. Prayer, time and conversation with God, is the way I am freed from the mold that society has placed on me, and reminds me of my true mold, the Imago Dei. The mold I am called this the image of God. This mold brings life and unconditional, redeeming love, but society’s mold brings pain. May my prayers, our prayers guide us to life!
