The church is full of good people. Some of these have found their niche. Others...not so much. For the latter, wishful thinking still exists; yet they cannot seem to find the starting line. These good people want to be a part of something that makes difference; but these also often feel they have little to offer.
Not so. Everyone has something to offer because everyone has the exact beginning point.
What we tend to do with our lives is to live from the bench just wishing the coach would put us into the game. We know we aren't the best; yet we so wish we could get the opportunity. Oh how we wish.
And here's what each needs to know. What puts us into the game isn't a coach giving us permission. It is self becoming aware that we have something valuable to offer. And what is that element? Pain.
The place where one hurts the most is the very place we can be useful because others who hurt like us could use our input. People who have been injured in a relationship do not need help from one who read a book on the topic. We want help from one who understands....has been there.
Henri Nouwen wrote, For the minister is called to recognize the sufferings of his time in his own heart and make that recognition the starting point of his service. Whether he tries to enter into a dislocated world, relate to a convulsive generation, or speak to a dying man, his service will not be perceived as authentic unless it comes from a heart wounded by the suffering about which he speaks....nothing can be written about ministry without a deeper understanding of the ways in which the minister can make his own wounds available as a source of healing.
This is found within the precise call of the apostle Peter to awaken us to follow the meaningful path of Jesus. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in His steps (I Pet. 2:21).
Our wounds and injuries are the healing salve for others. Too many times, however, we focus upon licking our own wounds rather than using them to give us tremendous purpose in life. Everyone wants to find their place in a productive life. No place is more fertile in purpose than looking within our own wounded hearts and realizing you can now identify with others who suffer as you and could surely use a sympathetic ear.
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