Can Pain teach me to Love?

I often wonder this question. Pain is something inside of us which makes us aware of our vulnerabilities. Pain allows us be in connection to our heart and emotions. I struggle against pain because it causes so much turmoil in my life. When I lost my mother just recently, I thought that the pain would never end. I became angry at God for allowing this to happen. The world is full of pain alot of times. The only way I could understand pain was to look at Jesus.

He lived on this earth as a man and went through everything we go through. Then at the end of it all He was bruised and beaten for all our sins. His life was spent in alot of pain. He had moments of joy but also felt all the pain on this earth. He spent time with lepers, prostitutes, thieves, tax collectors, the blind, the deaf, the demon possessed, and children just to name a few. The thing is that he saw the ills of mankind and yet had ability to still talk and spend time with children. How could he see all this and not become depressed? He wasn't though because he spent time with children who needed to see joy and love as well. I guess my point is that despite all this pain, you can still have joy and comfort and peace. It is because Jesus took all those things on Himself. It is in our pain that Jesus is closest to us. He feels it all with us.

So are we to keep looking for pain to be close to Jesus. I don't think we need to be masochistic in any way. I just think that if we realize that when we go through pain, Jesus can help us and isn't out to hurt us intentionally. Mankind fell in the Garden of Eden and so there is reason for this pain. Jesus becomes the source to turn to because He can bear all this pain for us. In fact, anything we go through He went through already. Since I have gone through these hurts, I have a greater capacity to understand love. I am thanking God not for the pain but in the pain now. I know He can bear all that pain for me. Pain teaches me more about love.

I am still learning this lesson but am trying to remember it when I go through pain. Actually, I am still going through pain. It becomes evident that the more I spend time in the world, the more pain I experience. Thank God for the times of joy as it helps me go through these times of pain.