STUNNED

Stunned to me is when something you never expected to happen ends up happening. It can be either good or bad, but it was definitely unexpected.

With a crisis or emergency it seems that we may not enjoy it, but we might emotionally understand things like an earthquake or other natural disaster. And the same can be said for something like health emergencies. They strain our senses and tax our nerves, but beyond the crisis we know they happen to many living things. Our ability to cope with downturns in life is varied, but it is part of life we all know will happen sooner or later. So the reaction of being stunned or shock is often more a matter of allowing our emotional thermostat adjust to the stress climate changed.

But to be stunned by the unexpected when it comes on a spiritual level is something completely different from my view. We sit when a blessing comes that we know deep down we didn’t deserve or some trial occurs that we also know we didn’t deserve and are stunned. That is from my view to be confused and unable to grasp it logically. It is part of the enigma of faith that wisdom from understanding doesn’t always keep pace with our experiences.

Still from the numbing quandary of not understanding why there comes the quest to discover. An attempt to give reason and light to the inexplicable.

God can and does answer prayers, but in his timing. And in a situation where we struggle with being stunned by the lack of clarity on knowing why this consequence occurred then our solution depends on our view of life. It should depend upon our spiritual maturity and faith, but being human the flaws of our essence intrude in the process.

Thus, hopefully sooner or later the beacon of God’s spiritual light will shine into the darkness of our lack of knowing. And we shall in due season be able to fathom what eludes us. Only we have to be prepared for the answer and that isn’t always easy to accept.

Pride can be a healthy response in life if it is focused on helping us to strife with confidence towards a specific goal. However if it becomes a shield we use mentally to hide from our flaws then it becomes a weakness in its own right.

With moments of spiritual stunning part of the process is allowing within our thoughts the freedom to see the truth. Where we stunned in part because we didn’t really have the faith to believe God was capable of a given event. That might be silly to suggest, but sometimes it really is the foundation of what happens. Oh we know all the words and can sing all the songs about God’s greatness, but when it comes down to where we live we have reserved ourselves from thinking the Lord will act in a given way in our lives. Being honest about that feeling and thought is a steppingstone in part to true enlightenment. And the true joy comes from knowing the Lord understands that element in our nature. If we bring it to him, it will deeper our need to trust him. But if we out of pride refuse to face this spiritual mirror of confrontation we shall never truly know the soothing balm of a more intimate relationship that will touch what stuns us with joy.