“The cage within me where I stuff my painful feelings, can become the cage around me.” Author unknown

“Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
JAMES 5:13-16 NASB

Stuffin’ stuff. For years I stuffed a lot of stuff in this old mind of mine. Only in the last thirteen years have I learned the importance of being honest with myself and others, and how to bring to the surface some of the issues that I have stuffed over the years. There is a man at the VA hospital that I have talked to since 1991. We have become friends and I can confide in him on all the issues that I have stuffed, even going back to when I was a small boy. He is a Christian and understands the spiritual principle of confessing and turning over to God the things that brother us the most. I have found that issues that I stuffed years ago, when uncovered tend to have an odor about them that is not pleasant. But after being exposed to the air and sunlight of friends who care, in time the odor is not so bad. Oh, the issues that I stuffed and tried to forget are not made right by being exposed, but the uncovering makes me conscious of what happened and the next time I find myself in a similar situation, I learn to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Stuffin’ stuff is like opening a gym locker after your gym clothes have been sitting there all sweaty and stinky. After the locker airs out a little it’s not so bad. The apostle James knew of the importance of airing our lives to each other. James even goes so far as to say that by airing our lives to each other we become healed. I believe that hidden sin in our lives can make us physically sick and spiritually sick of ourselves. May I be honest today about myself, and God will do for me what I could not do for myself………..JRE
********************

They took away what should have been my eyes, (but I remembered Milton’s Paradise).

They took away what should have been my ears, (Beethoven came and wiped away my tears).

They took away what should have been my tongue, (But I had walked with God when I was young).

He would not let them take away my soul.

Possessing that, I still possess the whole.

HELEN KELLER

Another beautiful post, Jerry. It is good to make a situation as right as possible at the moment. That's also part of the 12 twelve steps.