Joy & Pain

While waiting for Mr. Sandman to lull me to sleep, I was listening to Pandora. Frankie Beverly and Maze's "Joy & Pain" came on. Listen here:

 

 

While I can truthfully say that in this particular moment I am not experiencing pain, or joy for that matter, I am feeling some discomfort due to uncertainty. This lyric caught my attention: "Seems the things that turn you on turn you around" (NN: Pasted from <http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/frankie_beverley_and_maze/joy_and_pain.html>) 

One of our strongest attributes is our transparency. It normally turns us on but today it turned us around. As a result, the adage "honesty is the best policy" has been put to the test. While what was said has not stirred up what either of us has called anger, there is a admitted unsettledness in the atmosphere. 

Although we talked, prayed, and exchanged verbal articulations of our affection, when we got off the phone I was still uneasy in my spirit. This was concerning to me because I do not like to go to bed with heaviness in my heart. So I turned to the "don't go to bed angry" scripture found in Ephesians 4. As I read the contextual passages, I was comforted. Here is that I read:

Instructions for Christian Living
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. ... 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Pasted from <

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%204&version=NIV1984> 

***

We spoke truthfully (but on some level the truth "hurts"). However, I'm comforted because we intend to build each other up; we are kind and compassionate to one another; and (to the extent that forgiveness is required) we have the capacity to forgive one another. 

Psalm 139 has a perfect articulation of my individual (and collective) prayer:

23 Search me [us], O God, and know my [our] heart[s];
test me [us] and know my [our] anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me [us],
and lead me [us] in the way everlasting.

Pasted from <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20139&version=NIV1984> 

With an unburdened heart and in Jesus' name, AMEN (...and GNITE) *smiles*