Releasing Crutches

“What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now.”~Anon

“One day at a time--this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.”~Anon

"... this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before~Philippians 3:13

A crutch is a support used to assist the physically injured or disabled. Normally crutches are temporary fixtures in the injured's life. We, usually in time with healing and/or therapy, regain normalcy. Those who do not heal, remain disabled and eventually move into a more permanent confining support fixture like a wheelchair.

Some physical illustrations of life can be aptly applied to the spiritual side of life. We experience various traumas throughout our journey. We may consequently become injured, yet we still have to meander through life's labyrinth. However, sometimes we mask our emotional injuries while secretly carrying crutches that assist us in making sense of questions like "how" and "why" certain things have transpired in our lives. Sometimes we hide emotional traumas and injuries because we do not want to perceived as weak, incapable, inadequate or inferior. We do not want to identify with that which we have shunned and/or harshly judged in others. We want to be identified as strong, because we have an embedded creed in our psyche that "only the strong survive."

Very rarely will you encounter a person who hasn't gone through some type of pain, disappointment or trauma. It's called living. The problem is when we believe we have a patent or trademark to these negative experiences. Another serious problem is when we use the "past" to justify our ill-decisions and choices we are making in the "present". Yes, we get hurt either by others' doing or our own. Some pain is extremely devastating. Coupled to the aforementioned, we have been taught "time heals all wounds". This is a farce.

If a physical wound is not treated, infections like gangrene can set in. Slowly gangrene kills all the cells in that which was once healthy and viable until amputation is the only remedy. Well, the same applies spiritually. Just because we can rebound from offenses and traumas doesn't mean that we have recovered. Perhaps we are holding onto emotional crutches that are masking our inability to truly walk through our valleys. Without these emotional crutches, others would see the pain we are in. They would see we are infected with pain, unforgiveness, resentment, malice, bitterness, envy, strife, low self-esteem, and apathy which over time untreated begin to metastasize throughout our spiritual tissues and decaying our hearts and minds.

Have you heard others or even yourself rationalize their current predicaments, attitudes or vices.

"I was in a bad relationship..."
"My childhood was messed up..."
"My parents divorced..."
"My parent wasn't there for me..."
"I have been stabbed in the back..."
"I have been used and abused..."
"Someone special disappointed me..."
"Someone I admired failed to live up to the image..."
"Someone hurt me..."
"I have done some terrible things..."
"No one told me the right things to do..."
"I didn't apply myself..."
"My family hurt me..."
"My spouse left me..."
"My parent was physically abusive..."
"My parent was an alcoholic..."
"I didn't have a role model..."
"My parents decisions hurt me and affected my life..."
"People at the church let me down..."
"I failed..."

And the list goes on...Why are these emotional crutches? They identify that something has injured us. They also explain why we respond or express ourselves the way we do. Nonetheless, how long do we hold onto these things. Is holding onto them helping us to heal or crippling us?

When we don't deal with them and release them, they cripple us. They cripple us in our minds, bodies and souls. One of our goals in life should be "wholeness". We consume a lot of time exhibiting portraits of "wholeness" through our outer appearances and statuses yet we cannot be "divided" and be "whole". We have to, at some point, put as much or even more interest in being healthy in our minds and spirits. We have to purge the toxins of excuses and proactively pursue healthy perspectives concerning our past, present and future.

Whatever we went through, we cannot change it, therefore we must release it. A lot of things we persevered through were necessary. They allowed us to obtain a testimony in order to bear witness to others, that they too can be triumphant over any situation or circumstance. In these instances, we cannot hold unto crutches, we must release them so we can grab others' hands and help them through their valleys.