Greystroke, seriously, you are difficult to pray for, but I haven't been given a truly obnoxious and unbearable situation for years. It is good practice. It is only through the practice of faith that Faith shows why we are to practice it. You are free to post here all you want, anything you care to, as Christians must take anything you dish out without punching your lights out or banishing you. In fact, this seems to endear some of them to you even more, and so it should be.
One of the stories about St. Francis that I still have problems with, but understand, was one particular leper. Vile and hideous, he was, but perhaps once he had been gorgeous. Perhaps he had been rich and pampered in some other part of Italy until all his relatives threw him out to the street. But he kept kicking the bloody pans of water that the monks were trying to bathe his sores with, and sometimes in their faces, so they told him, Francis, in private, that they had had it, never again. That the man was beyond anyone caring about them, words to that effect. After all, the people that hung around Francis were first of all flesh and blood humans, as was Francis.
Now, Francis, beyond where I could ever hope to be, and have trouble sometimes even understanding how he got there-- definitely a VERY advanced trip down the path-- went to this man, who is named in at least 2 of the historical books on Francis, and said that he understood that the other monks had not been taking care of him according to his liking, and would this man mind if Francis tried to bathe his sores and feed him. Perhaps he could do a better job.
Read the rest of the story. You will hate it. Absolutely hate it, I'm sure. But I won't tell you the end of the story.
That's the hard, part, Greystroke. But it is part of the Path.
My prayers are going to be with you like paint on a wall, Grey. |
