I think I have a piano bench attached to me, to be my chair for all my life. Sometimes people just assume I will be there to play, which I usually am. I am thankful for the gift I have been given, and I do love to participate in my own way. This week our ward choir hurried through a song they will sing in Ward Conference. It's a song I have played with my eyes closed......not a challenge for me. But this week the words really struck a chord (major or minor?) and seemed to leave a message with me. I thought I would write the words here so I can remember them.
Where Can I Turn for Peace? Hymn #129
Where can I turn for peace?
Where is MY solace when other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice, I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?
Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know,
Where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm MY anguish?
Who,... who can understand?
He, only One.
He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching in my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant He is...and kind...
Love without end.
In those times when I don't understand what is happening, or why it is happening, those times when I feel I am all alone, or that no one understands, or that I am expected to read others minds, or when more is expected of me than I know of, when I am condemned because of things I don't know about, when I am doing my best to keep myself above water and others want to push me down, when I realize I'm doing things the best I can but it doesn't meet others approval, when others judge me for things I am unaware of, when I'm doing all I can at the time but it isn't enough to please others.......The only place I can find true comfort is from knowing that my Father in Heaven knows, and He will give me peace.
Who can understand?
He....Only One.
9 comments:
I still like the Hymn with the rest. I think that what is being interpreted as you not doing what others think you should be doing but maybe a void of what they might need hoping you can fulfill that need. Sometimes that comes across as something it doesn't mean to.
Just like you have things going on so do others and mind reading is something everyone expects others to do.
For me I feel I need someone to help me fulfill the duties of motherhood that I feel I fail miserably at. There are things that go on that sometimes I just need a mom. Something that you have said many times. Someone I can call to feel compassion and understanding.
The song is right. But peace comes at different levels at different times.
Recently I have been able to be at peace just knowing that I am doing all that I can. If others are judging me based on their expectations then that is their problem.
I heard Dr. Laura get upset at a lady the other day on the radio because this lady was upset that her sibling wasn't doing what she thought that the sibling should be doing as discipline for their child. (I hope that makes sense) Dr. Laura said that her opinion didn't matter in the situation because she wasn't the parent.
Satan wants us to feel inadequate and invaluable. He does it most to women because we are the heart of the family and he wants to destroy families. So don't get discouraged, even though that is easier said than done, because as long as you are doing your best that is all that matters. What other people expect of you is just that....their own expectations.
Please, don't be mistaken. I'm not in a "down" place. I AM feeling badly that others are feeling badly about things in their life, but I know that there isn't much I can say right now to help out. I am just offering a place where perhaps peace can be found.
Nancy, I like "the one with the rest" too, but this is the one we practiced on Sunday that made me stop and think. The "one with the rest" is also a good one for bringing peace. "Be Still My Soul"
The thing is, the people who YOU think are feeling badly about things in their life probably aren't. In fact they are probably feeling just opposite. They feel like Tammy said that they are doing all that they can do and just don't feel understood. NOT that they feel bad about their situation.
There are things that HAPPEN in people lives that others don't understand and probably won't. It is that times that people seek the comfort. Its the comfort that comes out as anger and judgements and mean things.
Peace is different for everyone. Its not something that someone else can give. How someone feels about a situation can't be judged by another. Telling someone else how they should feel isn't going to make them at peace. But offering to help in their lives or be involved in their lives is helping them find peace because they have some place to go when they feel down.
Christ had to suffer EVERYTHING in order for the atonement to work. So He knows what it is like. So when mortals tell others that they know what it feels like and that it is hard for this and that or for the other when they havnt' done it then they can't succor that person. They can't give them peace.
TRYING to understand would include and action. Not just a word or a oh I am sorry. That gives someone peace
Right now there are people around me who are questioning why things are happening, wondering why things are happening in their lives and feeling sad. There isn't anything anyone can say or do to help them. Their peace must come from themselves, through their relationship with Christ.
Amen!!!
Agreed. That is why the Lord is there and he wants us to turn to him and not others. If he wanted us to turn to others there would be no need to turn to Him.
Right he wants us to Turn to him. But when a comforting word or comforting thought or even help and understanding is needed in MORTALITY that is why he gives us family. God can't give you a hug. He cant' sit on your couch on a Friday night while you are crying. He cant' sit there through a therapy session with your child. BUT he has given us people who should be happy to do all in their power to do what he cant'. That was part of his plan too. A spirtual comfort and a Physical comfort are 2 different things. You can turn to Him for one but human contact is something HE created.
Though someone might not know exactly what you are going through offering to HELP or coming to appointments or babysitting or spending time helps someone feel that they are understood far better than words. Words you can get from Him. Actions you get from humans SHOW. Those actions help the person "struggling" feel that they can be Succored from those who have a vested interest.
Everything well said! We live in such a fast-paced world with many things at our fingertips in an instant. We've become so accustomed to quick results and get impatient when our problems aren't solved in an instant. I read a book a few years back titled, "Making Sense of Suffering" by Wayne Brickey. It was an eye-opener for me and helped me understand things in a new light. So grateful for our Savior who swallows up our pains, sins, sorrows, etc. through the Atonement. And so grateful for our hymns, too!
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