To be Understood, as to Understand;

Greetings Dear Reader,

How often do I scream inside and too often outwardly that I am not being understood?  When I find that I am in this state it is rarely because I am not focused on my own selfish interests.  When I remember to listen and seek to understand others, I find that in the listening there is solace. 

It could be that because our life is to be one of listening that I find my own issues disappear when I seek to understand the feelings and needs of others.  There are people in my life who have suffered greatly.  I know those who have been physically, sexually, and truly emotionally abused.  When I focus trying to get others to understand my pains and needs I forget how truly blessed I am.

When I truly seek to understand the depth of pain of those around me my own selfish wants pale in comparison.  Our pain is our own and I would not diminish how things feel to someone else, but when I brood on my own feelings of being misunderstood I am blinded.  More so, I am deafened to hearing how much pain others are experiencing.  It is my obligation to seek to understand the needs of others before ponding my own needs.

I find that the place I have failed the most in this is with family.  I am poor at remembering that the need to be understood is constantly before me in my family.  They count on me to know them and accept them for who they are.  It is my obligation to meet them where they are and love them deeply for who God has created them to be.  No matter how I feel about the choices they are making I must be the one who accepts them and loves them as deeply as I am able. 

The family strife that occurs in the world is so connected to the failure to love others for who they are, where they are.  I must see everyone as unique and beautiful in Christ and remember the lengths he goes to draw them to himself.  I must love everyone by seeking to understand who they are so that I may be a source of joy in their journey toward God.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. – Saint Francis of Assisi

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."