The Real Eclipse
The Real Eclipse
By the time you read this, the eclipse of the sun for 2024 will have passed. There will be various memories carried from this event that may last a lifetime. Some may declare that it was a life changing event. When my kids were little and attempting to get them to try new healthier foods I would proclaim, “Try it, it will change your life forever!” That statement quickly lost credibility once the dreaded broccoli challenge failed. I recently met an 80 year old Irish lady who was visiting the U.S. for the first time with the sole purpose of visiting Graceland. I told I had been to an Elvis concert while in high school. She and everyone close by responded as if it had changed my life forever. I’m not real clear on why broccoli, an Elvis concert or even an eclipse would change your life forever but I guess there is a slim chance.
Some people traveled great distances and spared no expense in order to experience a total eclipse of the sun. You may have been greeted with a complete cloud cover and your life time memory is one of disappointment. Some of us just walked out in the backyard, had no clouds, spent no extra money and had the perfect view of the sun playing peek-a-boo. There are a few who believed this event to be an apocalyptic sign foreshadowing the end of the world. I assume it did not occur since you are reading this. Most of us reading this will not be around for the next total eclipse in the U.S. and feel a sense of the brevity of life. Some of you, not reading this, approached this experience with arrogance. “I don’t need those stupid glasses.” I said not reading this because you damaged your retinas or corneas and you can’t read this. Whatever your experience may have been, I’m fairly sure it did not change your life forever. (Well, except for the guy with eye damage.) You will return to your life as it was before the event and eventually only recall it when someone mentions it.
I’m sure several thousands of years ago, people believed that the sun was gone when an eclipse occurred. We very clearly know today that it was only covered up. When you play peek-a-boo with an infant they initially believe you are gone and then surprised with joy when you return. They quickly catch on that you are just hiding your face behind your hands. Many people will do the same thing with painful events in their life. They will try to eclipse their pain with business, religious activities, escapism, image management, perfectionism and addictions. Some treat their unresolved pain with a dense cloud cover. If I don’t see it, look at it or remember it, it won’t hurt me. Some approach their pain with arrogance and self-reliance only to find it has damaged their relationships and how they view the world. Some approach pain as the infant playing peek-a-boo only to find the unpleasant surprise of it’s return. Some of our most difficult pain to deal with comes from self-inflicted pain. When we are God’s children and rebel from God’s precepts and venture through life by our own self guidance, we will be wounded. For some people their pain is so intense and traumatic that it changed their life forever. All human attempts to cover up, medicate or run away from our pain are futile. Just like the sun after the eclipse, it will return. There is but one cure for our pain and it does have to do with the Son. Christ did not come to cover up our pain or give you some religious high to medicate it. He became familiar with our pain and bore it upon the cross. Jesus, today, is mindful of your pain and wants to send his spirit to comfort and heal it. Maybe, today is the day you surrender your self-reliant attempts at covering up and medicating your pain. Maybe, today is the day the Son gives you a true and real eclipse of your pain.
Isaiah 53:3 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
If you are looking for guidance and encouragement regarding addressing your unresolved pain, then Driving Through Painville may be what you are looking for.
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Jonathan Jones, President and Founder of Perfect Hope Ministry.