Decisions That Are Difficult for Us to MakeSample

Never refuse to feel.

How can we understand a Jesus who in the Gospel of John says to his disciples, "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, do not let your heart be troubled or distressed, nor be afraid," and who days later recognizes your sadness, anguish, and fear in the most challenging hour. If we look forward to the texts of John and the texts in the other Gospels about the same situation, we will find that God will never condemn us for fear, anxiety, or sadness. They are emotions designed by the Creator Himself that we must learn to recognize and inhabit. Instead, Jesus speaks to us of a way of life that, by keeping our heart in it, allows God's peace to welcome these feelings: Greet them, tell them you know they're real, recognize them, and then open the door and politely invite them out because the house is already occupied. God's peace can face every kind of visitor and, after a while, help you out.

Remember, Jesus, our guide and savior, didn't have faults or sins, but He did have feelings, just like us. In times of significant challenges, He shared them with His own, showing us that it's okay to feel and express our emotions. Emotions and feelings are gifts from God Himself, designed to help us navigate our humanity. Paradoxically, denying them can lead us to be hostage to them, causing more harm than good.

Rarely do we touch on this subject of learning to adequately express our feelings as an expression of being followers of Jesus, which has led us to keep wounds, emotions, and inner pains with the illusion that they will never come to light and we do not realize that while we fill ourselves with positive statements that contradict what we feel. Our bodies and attitudes express those emotions through outbursts of anger, depression, sarcasm, criticism, and so on. In addition, we disconnect from the heart of the other experiencing pain and only manage to give sympathetic expressions that do not honor human pain. Let's not confuse a feeling or emotion with the reaction we choose to have in front of them. If we don't seek peace, our response can lead us to do and hurt ourselves.

Prayer: God forgive me if I have rejected my feelings or if I have rejected myself because I feel sadness, fear, or anxiety. Help me differentiate between my feelings and how I respond to those feelings. I embrace my humanity, fears, worries or sorrows and bring them to you. That's me, and I know that's how you love me. I would like you to show me the way to your company's certainty. May your peace that surpasses all understanding keep my heart and my thoughts in what you say I am for you. So be it.