Sunday, 18 February 2007

Still here

Ken and the big kids left for the cabin yesterday, and I've stayed behind with Chloe. Obviously Chloe's still not feeling well, so she and I stayed home from church today.

I'm really glad I didn't miss church a few weeks ago when our bishopric spoke in sacrament meeting. My bishop gives great talks; I'd be all for him giving us a sermon every Sunday. I thought I'd share what he had to say that has really stayed with me. He shared a portion of 'The Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton' (the picture is the crest of Sir Andrew Barton).

"I am hurt, but I am not slain; I'll lay me down and bleed a while, And then I'll rise and fight again."

The bishop then encouraged us to adopt those words. To acknowledge our hurts, but also to keep hope. He said we need to give ourselves permission to lay down and bleed awhile, but then we need to rise and fight again.

Those feelings of hurt seem so isolating, don't they? Yet they're part of the universal human experience. I'm not hurting right now, but I still found the way my bishop spoke about it very reassuring.

Anyhow, I think I'm just putting this down for me. The time will come that I'll want to refer back to this post.

3 comments:

Crystalyn said...

i love that quote! how beautiful. and i think so important to acknowledge both the hurt and the will to rise above. beautiful thought.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this! I have been trying to glean Sunday messages from blogs the last few weeks because of the sickies. I love that quote. I think lots of times we don't give ourselves time and space to bleed for a while. And then other times we don't remember to get back up. Beautiful words.

Ortensia Norton said...

Perfect words. I am bothered when people say trials are just dependant on our attitude. Sometimes life is just very painful and the only way through it is to lay down and bleed. The hard part I think is knowing when to get up. Sometimes we get up too early and sometimes too late, but no knows then that time is than the person going through it. In my life I have come to learn that I usually need someone to help lift me up, stand with me for a little while and then I can go on my way...and hopefully go help someone else who needs a lifting hand.

What a thought provoking post.