How You Love - Becoming Unstuck

    Sign along hiking path

"I'm stuck! I can't climb down!! I can't climb up either!!!", I cried. Being stuck on that very steep part of the mountain was not a funny situation, even though I could not get the grin off my face. I could see the valley below and was terrified by the depth. I prayed gravity would be merciful and friction generous. My imagination ran wild. "If I slid down this slope, gravity could keep pulling me down all the way to the mountain's foot. If I slid down slowly, the stony ground would leave my back bruised. What if I grabbed on to the stones, and moved sideways until I get to the less sloping path I should have taken?" Once one of the stones gave way from the ground, I froze. I was stuck and none of the people I had gone hiking with knew how to get me down. "How did I get here?!", I reflected. I had forgotten the instruction to stay on the hike trail. I intended taking pictures of the valley below, and the view from that elevated spot off the trail was perfect - until I had to continue my journey. I was stuck until love showed up.


    Top view from the steep slope

A stranger called out from a distance, "Are you okay?". "I'm stuck", I cried. She yelled, "Lay flat on your back and dig your heels into ground for support as you wiggle down." In less than 30 seconds, I was on the flatter hike path. I thanked the stranger and continued on the hike. This kind lady had seen a helpless neighbour like me and offered the help she could. I was tremendously grateful that she called out. I wonder how much longer I would have been stuck if she kept her wisdom to herself and never intervened. If I had been stuck longer, I may never have seen the beautiful scenery at the top of the hike trail.

    View at the summit of the hike trail


I recalled this incidence as I listened to How You Love by Smartmusique. This stranger's action reminds of Christ's amazing love towards us. Christ could have gone about His business in heaven, but He chose to reach out to humankind and rescue us from being stuck in sin. Christ enlightened us about the importance of love and how our identity as Christians is wrapped in love. In our journey through life, certain situations become chains because of how we choose to handle these situations. These events weigh us down, keep us angry, hateful, fearful, and cloud our minds with negativity. However, love releases us from the grip and entanglement of these chains. One such situation that keeps people stuck is offence. 

Offence is a weed, which if not curtailed or uprooted completely, will sprout again and propagate rapidly in conducive environments. Unresolved offence is a disease, where symptoms present themselves in the offended's resentment towards the offender and prejudice towards other innocent individuals sharing similarities with the offender. This prejudice often stems from the generalization of the offender's actions and correlation of these actions to elements of race, ethnicity, gender, personality type, socioeconomic status, to mention but a few. The offended ends up being stuck in emotions of anger, hatred, fear, and prejudice not only towards the offender, but also people who share similar characteristics with the offender. Unconditional love towards the offender, demonstrated through forgiveness, is the only antidote to such a disease as offence. Forgiveness will minimize, if not eradicate, the unnecessary tensions in our relationship with the offender, the negative emotions, and the prejudice towards individuals with similarities to the offender. Love removes the burden of unforgiveness off one's shoulders. Love, through forgiveness, makes appreciating the beauty of relationships and life much easier. 

    View along the hike trail

Share your thoughts in the comments on other things which can keep one stuck, or has kept you stuck and how you become unstuck. 

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