When I was a child, I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. And I coped like a child.
Some of these strategies were good. Some were very bad. But at the time, they made a lot of sense.
You see, if the world is black or white
If people are good or bad
If you’re either completely in control or unutterably lost
then of course, you must shout to be heard. Problem is, once you start shouting it’s very hard to stop.
Ways of making life safe.
Ways of making yourself heard.
Childish ways. Inappropriate now you’ve grown.
And yet –
Though your circumstances and your body have changed.
Though you’ve grown up and moved on.
Sometimes, the old feelings return.
They’re no longer appropriate. Perhaps they never were.
Ways of making life safe.
Ways of making yourself heard.
Except, now that life is safer
now that there are people listening –
How do you speak without screaming and know you’ll still be heard?.
Oh – I know this too.
This challenges me. Thank you.
When you find out, please let me know!!!
‘Except now that life is safer’.
If you had a beautiful childhood you might be able to except such a thing. If you have been neglected, abused or had a difficult childhood for any other reason, I don’t think this will work. Abuse, etc. especially in the first 2 years of life will cause brain damage in the same way as would a car which runs over you. Without help and without a faithful God this will never happen. There has to be written a new way in the brain and sealed by God. Then you might be able to accept that life is safer. This is what nobody will understand who had the chance for a beautiful childhood.
Thanks Tanya. Sarah – when I work out the answer I’ll let you know…then go on TV and make a mint selling my ‘secret’..
Kinga – that’s such a powerful image: abuse being like a car that runs over you. And it’s something I can’t talk about with any authority. But Jesus can: because He has known every kind of abuse, every kind of suffering and He is the God who cares enough to join us in our pain. His death makes possible that new way you speak of: written on our brains and in our hearts. Ezekiel 36:26: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh”.