Perspective is an interesting thing. You can take siblings from the same family and ask them about their family of origin and get very different perspectives, to the point where you wonder if they grew up in the same home. Perspective, I found it interesting when I knew of one person in the hospital who wanted to kill them self and another person in the very same hospital, on a different floor, fighting for their life.
It’s a 'hmmm' situation, can the person wanting to die see the heartbreak and concern that the family and staff are going through to try to save the person who wants to live?
I am frustrated, discouraged and distressed over the increasing number of people who are trying to end their life. For me alone in the past 6 months I can name 7. 6 attempts and 1 success – so much heartbreak for everyone involved.
That is far too many and it hurts my heart to think that people have no hope that things might get better in this life, that they think this is the only way to get rid of their pain.
Suicide seems to be glorified in the younger generation, from the 13 Reasons Why series to teen pacts and Sweet 16 groups all around the nation. It is so bad the principal at the school where I worked last year had me remove a number of books all dealing suicide from the library.
Our young people are our future – the upcoming leaders, CEO’s, parents, role models, and the next generation, if they have no hope, what does that say for the future?
I figured out a long time ago that pain is a part of life. Pain is one of those feelings that let’s you know you are alive. Pain is necessary, you might not want to hear that, but it is because it tells your body to stop doing whatever it is that is hurting it, much like the red light that comes on in your dashboard for your car. Pain is the red light for your body, telling you to stop.
Pain is a gift, because without pain you will not change. Pain is the catalyst that gets us moving to change things up. Think of it, if you are feeling “great” why would you want to change?
Life is a blend of good, happy, sad and pain all at the same time and it is totally how we handle it that counts.
It is interesting that there is nothing like pain to make us come before the God who we are so quick to ignore in the pain free times. How many times have we heard stories of people in their darkest moments calling out to God, even if they are unsure He exists?
Perhaps that is the true story of pain, it bows our knee and brings us before the throne of the only one who can do anything about it.
People long to end their life to get rid of the pain that they are experiencing. They believe that by ending their life they will go into a painless state. They believe "death" is the answer.
I know 3 people, who did not have a faith relationship with God, and I have heard their stories personally, they died and were declared clinically dead and came back to life more scared than anything else they have ever felt. These 3 very dear friends of mine, they never want to go there again. It was horrible, worse than they could have ever imagined, they rarely talk about it as it still haunts them today.
The pain and fear that those 3 people had, made them make the change; they are now Christians who have placed their faith in God, because they know they never want to go back to that place. They realize there is everlasting life, meaning, a life after this one. This is not a scare tactic, is it simply their stories and I pray one day I will have the liberty to share their stories.
What if as my 3 friends experienced, it is not a “void” state you end up in, what if you take the pain with you because you are not going to "die".
You see Life is God's business and if the life down here is not working for you - maybe you need to chat with the One who gave it to you before you decide to leap into the next.