The deepest cut, the most painful wound...betrayal

The deepest cut, the most painful wound…. betrayal

I’m sure we could pull up a chair, sip on a green tea, and unpack some painful memories of the times in our lives that we have been cut at the knees by someone we trusted, loved, and felt safe with.

I would take a physical wound over the betrayals I have physical, emotionally, and spiritually felt. The “friends” who set me up, made me the butt of a joke, enjoyed a laugh, while I put on more armor each day to be able to even walk back into school. The husband who abandoned his wife and kids for the secretary who was “more like him”. The co-workers who created the hostile work environment, attacked to face, by email, and behind back.

As all of you who have been walloped by “betrayal”, survival is possible. Emotional damage is to be expected.

One of my favorite scenes in “Notting Hill” is when they sit around the table and compete for the brownie. There is one brownie left and they decide the person that will receive it has to have the best/worst life story. They go around the table and share their baggage, their pain, the betrayals in their lives. I love this because I truly believe that pain, suffering, loss, and hardship can be relative. One person’s day can be shot when they realize that there is a rip in their favorite, most expensive pants, where another person’s day is leveled from a phone call from the Dr. that reveals that the unforeseeable future will be a fight for life over death.

We love; we trust; we allow people I,nto our safe circle and hope that they remain in our lives helping us battle through, as we reciprocate.

I find the lessons of Holy Week teach us that Jesus purposefully and powerfully compressed so much in a short amount of time knowing that the sand was moving through the hourglass at hyper speed. He was intentional about keeping his disciples close. He was purposeful about preaching and inspiring those who stayed near him, and he was brittle and concise to those that were conspiring against him.

Sometimes betrayal blindsides us.

Sometimes we ignore the red flags.

This was not the situation for Jesus. He was clear on what was coming and he did his very best to make it clear to those closest to him:

“As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” ~ Matthew 26:2

He is well aware that the rest of the week is pretty much going to suck.

Yet he stays present.

When we have been betrayed, have we become colder, more removed, more sharp tongued? Have we pushed away those that want to unconditionally love us, while simultaneously the others who are plotting to harm us?

Jesus made sure to receive and appreciate the unconditional love that was shown to him by Mary and stand up for her against the judgment that came upon her for her elaborate act of love.

“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman (Mary) came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When the disciples (Judas) saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” ~ Matthew 26:6-13

On this day, less than three days prior to his death, Jesus made sure to recognize those that were against him and make it known that he was not naïve, as he held his friends close and purposefully recognized their faithfulness and support.

His friend Mary knew she needed to act and she did so with such wild abandon that she stirred much judgement.

Jesus stood up for her appreciating that she was bold enough to “do something” to recognize that his time with them wasn’t wasted.

Yet even with this act of love one of his closest friends set out to cohort to his demise.

We most likely will not know the day or hour, of the cut to our spirits and heart, from one we trust, love, and hold close, but we know the exact moment after.

How have we moved forward?

Have you moved forward?

Holy week puts all of my life challenges into perspective. No matter what hardship I’ve encountered I can find something inspiring to remind me that I am strong enough to move through it and be stronger for having experienced it. Not that I want that challenge, but I surely will not allow someone to stop me from continuing forward in my journey to finish my race strong.

We will experience betrayals in our lives.

We need to embrace the “Mary’s” and we need to be alert to the “Judas’s”, but not allow the latter to stop us from being who we are called to be.

No matter whether it is a lost love, lost friend, lost job, lost faith in humanity.

Take a knee.

Know the pain you feel is valid and the loss you feel is not only real but will be hard to move through, however, know you are strong enough.

I questioned if I was strong enough, over and over and over; now I look back and KNOW that each of these betrayals definitely hurt me, but thankfully I refused to let them stop me.

So should you.

We have an example of one that showed us how to balance unconditional love, with awareness of those who wish for our failure, and how to not allow them to stop us from completing the journey that we were purposefully, intentionally, and beautifully created to complete.

The message of this week: there is a day we will rise above those who set forth to harm us, but we must stay focused on the journey and the One who showed us how to walk it.

“Everyone suffers at least one bad betrayal in their lifetime. It’s what unites us. The trick is not to let it destroy your trust in others when that happens. Don’t let them take that from you.” ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

#betrayal

#holywednesday

#unconditionallove

#Jesus

#youarestrongenough

#staythepath

#beintentional

#alwaysandforever

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