“Oh, what kindness we begin to practice when we act like our losses matter. . . . Loss, disappointment, grief, and injustice provoke anger. . . . Your rage is not a sign that something’s wrong with you; there’s something wrong with the world. . . . We’re often embarrassed by our anger, but it’s simply proof that our hearts are aching for things to be right.”- John Eldredge (emphasis author’s)
As John Eldredge moves on in Chapter 10 of Get Your Life Back, he observes that we need some place to take our anger. Speaking from his role as therapist, John shares that if your suppress anger, that anger morphs into fear. Certainly, that’s no better option than anger.
In Chapters from My Autobiography, Mark Twain wrote that it takes years before you know the true extent of your loss. Thus, Twain describes the essential things one loses when his/her house burns down:
“He didn’t realize that it was an essential when he had it; he only discovers it now when he finds himself balked, hampered, by its absence. It will be years before the tale of lost essentials is complete, and not till then can he truly know the magnitude of his disaster.”
Therefore, John counsels, we need to use sensitivity as we pay attention to the process. Because, the author finds, half the stuff we do to ourselves every day is actually quite harmful. Furthermore, over time those things we use to prop up our daily happiness burn out the soul. Consequently, just like a thespian or comic, the soul can’t always be ‘on’. It’s super damaging to force your soul into a perpetual state of anxiety.
Daily living in the world fries your soul. As a result, the last thing you want to do involves adding your own overstimulation. Rather, John cautions, we want to prepare our souls for the days ahead. We must fill our souls with God, practice soul care.
Today’s question: What acts of kindness do you practice because our losses matter? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Stand at a distance from our own soul?”
