Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Pain, Pain, Go Away ....

The following are the 2 quotes I mentioned on my previous post. I wish the pain the Johnsons feel would just go away quickly, but in reality - it won't. Even these great men of God said so:

To say the patient is over it after an operation for appendicitis is one thing; after he's had his leg off is quite another. After that operation either the wounded stump heals or the man dies. If it heals, the fierce, continuous pain will stop. Presently he'll get back his strength and be able to stump about on his wooden leg. He has "got over it". But he will probably have recurrent pains in the stump all his life, and perhaps pretty bad ones; and he will always be a one-legged man.
-
C.S. Lewis in "A Grief Observed" after the death of his wife

Nothing can make up for the absence of someone whom we love and it would be wrong to try to find a substitute; we must simply hold out and see it through. That sounds very hard at first, but at the same time it is a great consolation, for the gap, as long as it remains unfilled, preserves the bonds between us. It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap; God does not fill it, but on the contrary, God keeps it empty and so helps us to keep alive our former communion with each other, even at the cost of great pain.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian who was executed for opposing Hitler

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Perfect.

Trish

Anonymous said...

Psalms 66: 8-12 (TLB)
"Let everyone bless God and sing his praises, for he holds our lives in his hands. And he holds our feet to the path. You have purified us with fire, O lord, like silver in a crucible. You captured us in your net and laid great burdens on our backs. You sent troops to ride across our broken bodies. We went through fire and flood. But in the end, you brought us into wealth and great abundance!

Psalms 66:8-12 (KJV)
"O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved. For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place."