“Take nothing for granted; be thoughtful in prayer." ~ 1 Peter 4:7
Jackson rushed around,
particularly anxious to get to work today when WHAM, he stubbed his toe on the solid,
immovable patio table. Sharp pain
dropped him deck. “I don’t have time for
this!” he shrieked, clutching his throbbing toe.
“I’m such a clumsy idiot; this always happens to me.” Inspecting his darkening toenail, Jackson
realized it wouldn’t fit into his dress shoes. “I’m not even going to be able to wear shoes
today, and I have a presentation to give, it’s going to be a disaster. I’ll be hobbling around all day. I’ll probably look like a fool in front of my
colleagues.”
Toni, his wife, overheard him moaning. She cocked her head playfully and gently
asked, "Do you really need to shoot the second arrow?"
Jackson’s brow furrowed; feeling a mixture of confusion and curiosity. "What's the second arrow?" he asked.
She spoke deliberately, relishing the opportunity to share
her Eastern wisdom. “Buddhists say that
any time we suffer misfortune, two arrows fly. The first arrow is the actual bad event, which
can, indeed, cause pain. The second
arrow is the suffering. That's actually
optional. The second arrow represents our
reaction to the bad event. It's the
manner in which we chose to respond emotionally.”
“We get to choose?” he questioned.
“In essence, yes!”
she responded. “Consider this
alternate scenario. “Sharp pain drops
you to the floor. Through the tears you
let out a little chuckle about your miserable, but painful situation. You inspect your toe and realize you’ll need
to wear sandals to work today. Jokingly
you add that ‘Casual Friday is coming early this week!’ before hobbling to the
closet.”
“As soon as we realize we’re
suffering, we can give ourselves some compassion for that first arrow (pain). Most of us have some sort of low-level hum of
frustration running in the background. Ask
yourself ‘Do I really need to shoot a second arrow?' If you choose to shoot it, you may be trying
to extinguish whatever just happened by layering on some sort of negative story
about how the situation defines our character.”
Friends, if you’re like me, the Arrow #1 represents things I
can’t control about life: illness, old age, the slow guy in line in front of me
at the grocery store ...
Arrow #2 arrow is the tension I create around the pain: whining
about having the flu, hating my thinning, gray hair, firing imaginary laser
daggers at the elderly guy unloading his shopping cart one … apple … at … a time.
Prayer is the ultimate stress reliever. There’s nothing better than giving your
problems, stressors, and anxiety to God. Giving it up to God isn’t easy, but it’s
rewarding. He wants your problems. He wants you to rely on Him for help.
Almighty Father, forgive me for trying to
fix my situations all on my own. Forgive
me for running in different directions and spinning my wheels to find help,
when true help and healing must be found first in You. Amen
