The Pothole of Rejection....

The Bump of Loneliness

If there is one word in the English language that everyone almost instinctively knows the meaning, it is the word REJECTION. We have seen it displayed to and by others more times than any one of us would care to admit. We have felt the pain, dismay and loneliness that being rejected brings. Since rejection and the emotions that is brings seems to be so universal to all, you might ask why consider rejection as a pothole that can totally disrupt and derail a life...the answer is both simple and complex.

Simply put, rejection hurts us...and depending on how great our love and affection for that person who rejects us, the hurt can go all the way to the heart of who we are and who we might desire to become.

Now I came from a very loving and supportive family with two great parents and a sister, all of us bound in a family unit with our love for each other and for our Lord at the center of our home. We supported each other in many ways and even in the worst of times, we let each other know that they were loved and cherished as a family member. So, when I got married for the first time at the ripe old age of 27, I married a woman that was 31, widowed, with two sons from her previous husband. I loved her and her boys more than life; so when after three months of what I thought was wedded bliss, I came home from work to find my suitcases packed and my neighbor's husband sitting in my kitchen to tell me that my "wife" wanted me to leave ...I was floored, flabbergasted and extremely hurt from this display of total rejection. This cut me to my core and as I returned to my parent's home, all I could think about was how disappointed everyone would be in me that I could not make my marriage work. I took a lot of aspirin when I got home, went to bed and hours later, I woke up in the hospital after having my stomach pumped. I don't believe that I tried to take my life, but I was looking to ease the horrible pain I felt from being rejected by the woman I loved.

It is this kind of rejection that can be a pothole that consumes you and takes away your will to go on. It has happened far too many times when someone has been spurned, turned aside and rejected by a true love that they never recuperate...they become sullen and despondent and lose their zeal for living. Too often someone that has suffered tremendous rejection becomes a recluse or at best, a sad and lonely figure, living on the edge of society, but never really fitting in or moving forward from that pain of rejection.

Even Christ our Lord suffered the greatest of pain on the cross, not from the nails driven into His hands and feet, but in His final hour, He cried out to His Heavenly Father saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It was in those last few breaths before Jesus died that He experienced the greatest pain of His life...the loss of His Father's love. It was in that moment God turned His back on His eternal Son as He bore the weight of all our sin on His shoulders...yes, Jesus suffered the spurning rejection of the Father so you and I would not have to know such heartache.

Is there a pothole of rejection...and can it do irreparable damage in one's life? I truly believe there is!  I believe it is far more insidious in our lives than often we know. But though we may encounter this pothole, we need not let it define the rest of our life...for God has already taken care of the holy rejection that comes from on high. He has forever called us to be His own, never more to be rejected by the sins that separate us from Him and His righteousness....WE BELONG TO GOD WHEN WE BELIEVE THAT CHRIST'S SACRIFCE ON THE CROSS PAID OUR SIN DEBT AND WE CHOOSE TO LIVE FOR HIM.

My friend, no more should you look at your life in terms of what you do not have because of who or what may have rejected you...Look rather at your life as the true gift that it is....a life set apart, abundant and free, loved and adored, happy and at peace because God has made you a part of His heavenly family ....it is a family in which you will forever belong!!!!!

Living life with no regrets....Loved by the Father...Cherished by the Son,

WPQ

Poem for the Day:

If life has been good to you

And you've found someone to love.

It's all because He cares for you

From His Heavenly throne above.

So don't despair if you're cast aside,

Don't let rejection rule the day.

Just trust and rest in the Father's grace

For another love is on the way!

WPQ 2017