In
today's devotional** is a quotation from James Baldwin: I imagine
one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is
because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal
with pain. It seems to me this
observation is of overwhelming importance. Picturing in my mind
James Earl Ray, for example, surely at base of some of his impelling
hatred was pain not yet faced
within
the roots of his own childhood or
later in life.
When
I thought about the quotation
again, another rendering of
it came to mind: I imagine one of the reasons people cling
to their Big Dreams so stubbornly is because they
sense, once the Big Dreams are
gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
I
look at this personally. Several blogs ago (click here)
I wrote about my dream to be president of the United States. I have
always viewed this as a divine directive. Could it not be possible
that an equal possible source of this Big Dream resides within pain
not yet faced in the roots of my own childhood or later in life?
Below is a picture of me from the 1st grade.
Now
it's entirely possible that before entering the imposing photo-shoot
room I was carefree, spontaneous and free. It is also possible,
however, that this photo captures an underlying pain that even to
this day I have not yet faced and which is driving a Big Dream that
once realized would purportedly prove beyond cavil that I have grown
“in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke
2:52).
**From
James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son quoted in The
president's
Devotional by Joshua Dubois, Feb. 22).
