Facing the Pain With Jesus & Glennon Doyle

Glennon Doyle

Author Glennon Doyle has done a TED talk and a Super Soul Session in-between writing books.

The main takeaway she wanted for the audience of her live events is we should learn to embrace pain, even run towards it. 

It's only by facing whatever is causing pain in our lives that we grow. In her words. first the cross, then the resurrection, she points out.

There's no doubt whatsoever that Doyle has paid her dues. Years of bulimia and addiction fueled by a Western Culture that teaches us to hide our truest selves.

Haven't we all felt like we didn't fit in? Like fitting in was more important than realizing who we truly are? 

Jesus With Barbed Wire/Friar Robert Lentz

Towards the end of her Super Soul Session talk, Doyle mentioned a few of the people she admires, like Jesus.

And it is true that Jesus was one of the few human beings who walked the earth who seemed to be perfectly comfortable being who he was. 

Jesus was also comfortable in freely admitting that living involved a lot of pain. He told his followers to be aware that they would face persecution and death. 

But he also taught them not to be afraid. In fact, one of the first things Jesus said to his followers after his resurrection was "peace to you."

Maybe he was figuring they were thinking, "if they killed our leader, then what are the Romans going to do to us?" 

Facing pain has never been very popular.

Doyle says it took over twenty years for her to finally get to that point. 

Jesus had three years of public ministry, but those years were action-packed with rejection, misunderstanding, and poverty. Followed by crucifixion.

Yikes!

We want shortcuts, but wisdom and healing don't come from side-stepping around the truth.

As I'm writing this, I'm still mourning the loss of my two cats, Abbott and Buddy. We lived together for almost 17 years. I'm mourning the loss of five classmates from high school (class of 1970) who have passed away this year. I'm mourning the continuance of the Covid-19 pandemic via the Delta variant. I'm mourning the loss of life happening as the U.S. leaves Afghanistan and for thousands of Afghanis whose lives have been changed forever because of our involvement there. 

It's a lot to consider. 

Most days I do a terrible job of bringing these things to mind. Some days I reach out and do something positive in retaliation.

On the whole, I've chosen to keep slogging through pain and disappointment and confusion.

Sometimes, slowly, miraculously, hope appears. 

Oftentimes in the strangest places, and at the oddest times.

Most of the world's religions tackle the challenge of pain.

The better ones point the way towards love.