Emotion

I've been thinking a lot about emotions a lot lately...especially how we mismanage them.  Please understand, I'm not a very emotional guy.  I grew up learning how to take care of my sad, mad, scared feelings without  anybody else's help.  Our family just wasn't very good at dealing with them which made not dealing with them seem normal.  On top of that was popular advice given to boys like, "Big boys don't cry" and "Stop being such a baby", etc. 

Two problem areas have made me take a look at emotions in new light--addiction and marriage.  Isn't it true that many people develop an addiction because they don't know how to deal with their pain and loss and grief (emotions) in a healthy way?  They're overwhelmed by a truck load of negative feelings and so deal with them the only way they know how...they medicate.  And  in marriage, husbands and wives sometimes don't bond as strongly as they could because they don't learn how to explore their negative feelings and to comfort each other in those negative feelings.  They may share information and raising children and and chores around the house and vacations but they leave unexplored a whole other dimension of their humanity (their emotions) and so fail to connect at a deeper level.  One or both may feel something is missing but they're not sure what.  And so there's disappointment, and sometimes divorce.

This is where Jesus enters the picture.  He didn't minimize negative feelings or avoid them.  He said that in his kingdom, people are blessed (happy) when they mourn (a negative emotion) because they will be comforted (think of comfort as relief from the pain).  We will have pain and when we do, with Jesus, we can find genuine relief.  We don't have to medicate or avoid the sadness.  We can get through it.  And in the case of marriage, the grief will even draw the couple closer together as they learn to comfort each other.  In our unhealthy approach to painful feelings we have actually multiplied our pain through addiction and failing marriages.

When I used to come home from work I'd ask the family "what's the latest news we can use".  I was all about information.  But now I'm beginning to explore feelings with my family and we're all the better for it.  How about you?  Are you experiencing any painful feelings?  Do you know what they are and why you have them?  Have you talked to anybody about them?  Are you finding genuine relief from the pain?  May the God of all comfort be with you.

Rick

Genesis Sex

Turn on your t.v. and it takes about 3 nano-seconds before the subject of sex comes up.  There must really be something to this whole sex-thing if it's such a popular topic.

Well, while I was reading through Genesis recently (first book in the Bible), I noticed plenty of references to sex there too.  And it wasn't all pretty--incest, rape, prostitution, seduction.  Two sisters get their dad drunk so that he'll sleep with them (mom is dead) so that they'll have children so that they'll carry on the family line; a widower (Judah, whose line Jesus came from) hires a prostitute to sleep with him (just because) who happens to be his daughter-in-law who was left hanging without one of her dead husband's brothers to marry (the widowed woman was supposed to be given one of her husband's brothers if the husband died); Leah pays off sister Rachel so that she can sleep with the husband they both share so that she can have more babies; and Potiphar's wife does her best Mae West imitation to seduce the young, handsome Joseph.  Potent stuff.  Hollywood wasn't the first to notice.  And then there's the fall-out:  Nations emerging from the incest that would be a thorn in Israel's side for years;  revenge; jealousy between half-brothers; an innocent man being framed for rape. 

Sex is powerful.  Just imagine how powerful it can be for the good when it's contained within a life-long covenant of love between a husband and wife.  No messes to clean up; no broken hearts; no attachment disorders.  Think about it.

Blessings