The Paths of Greatest Resistance

Tonight, I'd like to write a little about something very near and dear to my heart, and that's PAIN.

Pain?

Yep...PAIN.

We all feel it, struggle with it, suffer through it, don’t we?

I, for one, am exceedingly grateful for pain, for it, in and of itself, can be so illuminating.

Pain, if I’m feeling it…and listening to it, can tell me a lot about my current conditions…

It can tell me when something’s wrong within myself.

It can tell me when a perceived wrong is being committed against me.

It can tell me tell me what my limits are….like when I’ve pushed myself too far (the physical pain of a broken bone) or when I haven’t pushed myself far enough (the feelings of guilt and unhappiness that arise from engaging in wimpy behaviors).

It can tell me how important something is to me (I love her so much it just tears me me to pieces when I’m with her…when I’m not with her.).

It can tell me that I’m doing the right things in the right way…that I’m doing a good job well.

Given the above, it’s hard for me to conclude how pain could be anything but a really good friend.  To befriend “my friend,” though, requires something of me.  Essentially, three things, in fact:  (1) that I feel it; (2) that I listen to it; and (3) that I respond accordingly to it.

In my earlier years (as a young chiltlen), I was confronted often by my parents for taking what they called “the path of least resistance” or, as some have called it, “the easy way out.”  Are you familiar with those phrases?  I certainly am, as I have done more than my fair share of blindly traversing such fruitless paths. 

In my 45 years of stumbling around on this pebble called earth, I’ve concluded that the path of least resistance—the easy way out, if you will—is nothing but the path of the loser.  Ooooh....kinda harsh, don't you think, Dave?  Ummmm....No.  It really is the path of the loser.  You want to know why?  Because, ultimately, everyone loses out when such highways are taken.  And, in fact, the easy way out more often than not becomes a path fraught with peril, painful stumbling, and great resistance.  But...the path of great resistance, the way that hurts, the way that requires heart, is often the best way in life and, in fact, really is the easiest way.  This is paradox at its very best.

I, personally, think traveling the paths of resistance is the ONLY way to live.

Jesus seemed to think so, too.  In fact, He went out of His way to take the difficult road.  And, in Him, we have a fabulous example of how to live.  All He asks is that we follow Him.  And what joy there is for us when we do so humbly and resolutely and allow the glory of His Father to be reflected off our faces as they, like Jesus, become "set like flint" toward the accomplishing of God's grand purposes in and through our lives.

Pain is your friend—your good friend, if you will allow me to write so boldly.  Embrace it, and it will change your life, for so many good things come from it.  As Mr. Miaggi once said to a young Daniel Laruso in Karate Kid:  “Not Miaggi rule, Danielson.  Rule of life.”  Amen

Bling


P.S.  Provided below, are a few memorable quotes I picked up about fifteen years ago.  I recommend memorizing them and, perhaps, adopting them into your own personal lexicon of life slogans.  Doing so might really be helpful to you at some point.  Especially, right now, at the points of choice in your life.  Peace...

The more thou sweatest in training, the less thou bleedest in battle.—Richard “Dick” Marcinko, Commander, United States Navy (Retired), Former SEAL, and One of My Many Mentors in Life

If thou hurtest in thine efforts and thou suffer painful dings, than thou art, most likely, doing it right.—Dick Marcinko

Sometimes, one hast not to like it, one hast just to do it.—Dick Marcinko