Pain. It hurts. Reflections on life and Holy Week.

Pain. It hurts. I know that seems like an obvious statement. But so often we are guilty of pretending we don't hurt. This is especially true of Christians. Why are we as Christians so afraid to admit that things in life bring us pain? Are we victims of a "SuperChristian" mentality, where we have convinced ourselves that we aren't supposed to hurt? I think so and I just don't understand why.

I mean, really, why the farce? Being a person of faith does not make us immune to pain. Of any type. Emotional pain, physical pain, spiritual pain. We feel it all. Why are we so scared to admit our brokenness and to feel our own pain?

Yesterday, I had one of those days. You know one of those days. Where the pain worked it's way to the surface. The physical and emotional toils of MS coupled with a hurting heart for people I know who are enduring their own battles caught up with me. And I had to let it out. A good cry, a good conversation with my wife, and some prayer and contemplation. But you know what? It felt good. I felt freedom and release in finally admitting that I am not perfect, I do not feel great everyday and that life takes it toll on me like it does everyone else. It felt good just to admit it. Last night, for the first time in months, I slept. Really slept. No meds, no all night insomnia, just good sleep. This morning, I woke up at 6, filled with joy and excitement at what the day might hold. Not because I am free of pain, I am still broken, but because I allowed myself the freedom to be released from the grip it was holding on me by simply admitting, pain hurts.

And this morning as I reflect on this Holy Week, I can't help but to see the Gospel lived out in my experience of the past two days. Before the glorious resurrection on Easter Morning, there was Holy Week. A week in which Christ bore the brunt of his emotional anguish. He knew what was coming that week. He understood that betrayal was coming, beatings and mockery, and ultimately a crown of thorns and a cross awaited Him. But He did not run from it, nor did He hide it. Anguished prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, long talks with the disciples, and a deep understanding that pain was real unavoidable, and even necessary.

Without that pain, there would have been no Easter morning. As Dr. Mac Wallace constantly affirmed to us at Campbell University Divinity School, we cannot rush through the pain of the Cross in an eagerness to get to the resurrection. Doing so somehow leaves us void and unappreciative of the glory that comes with the resurrection.

So that has been my Holy Week lesson. Pain hurts. But rather than bury it, hide it, or ignore it, we must accept it, live through it, and come out on the other side.

Only in doing that, can we fully appreciate the freedom that comes on Resurrection Morning in our lives.