Pain is a gateway...

When we think about pain, we tend to focus on well, the pain of pain.  We focus on it is as an unfair negative in our life.  Something we are better off completely avoiding.  But is it?  I'm not suggesting that we strive to achieve or feel as much pain as possible, but rather we perhaps look at it a different way at times.

These are they ways we think of pain.  These are the ways you might see them in a dictionary definition.

• Physical suffering or distress.
• A distressing sensation in a particular part of the body.
• Mental or emotional suffering or torment.
• Etc.

But really, this is just one side of the pain equation. 

Different ways of looking at pain

• Pain is a sign of progressing
• When we first start working out, we feel a lot of aches and pains.
• To be stronger or faster, we usually have to push through much discomfort.
• Pain reminds us of our humanity.
• If we went through life without pain, without loss, we wouldn't necessarily feel truly alive. 
• Without the lows of pain, we would appreciate the calm, the serene.  We obviously wouldn't be able to measure the good times as easily.
• Without it, we would be robbed of the opportunity to really feel, understand and relate to others.  It is easy to share joy with others as share happy moments.  But often times to truly understand another we have to walk a thousand miles in their shoes.
• Some of my best friends have lost both of their parents and I could say all the comforting words in the world, but until I was in their shoes, I could never relate to them completely.
• In this way, we have the opportunity to give a gift back to others.  Sure we can laugh with others, but it is in the moments we listen to, look into the eyes of others and say, "I hurt and I understand your hurt." that we show them compassion and love.  
•  In my faith, the Father himself sacrificed his only begotten Son in an act of compassion.  A sacrifice which paid a sin debt that we could never have paid ourselves.  Pain was necessary to pay this sin debt. 
• The Father had the pain of loss.
• The Son endured the pain and torment of our sins.

Those who know me know that I have been blessed/cursed with a certain sensitivity.  This is very constructive in understanding others, but I sometimes feel more than I'd like as well.   As the loses have mounted over the past few years, I realize that pain has instead of destroying me, has in a way made me stronger.  It has opened my eyes and heart in a way that nothing else could have.