I have tried for years to actually place myself in others’ shoes so I could be compassionate, trying to understand their true feelings. When the Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson came out, I went to see it with about thirty other individuals from church.  I sat right on the front row of the back section. This time was no different. When the beating and flogging part began to take place, I unconsciously began to weep.  As the scourging progressively became more intense and brutal, I began to sob from a place deep within.  I was not aware of how loud I had become and of the fact I couldn’t seem to stop. A woman who was sitting in the first row of the section in front of me (across the aisle) reached her arm back and patted me on the leg trying to comfort me while whispering, “It will be alright.”  As I walked out of the theater alone that night, weakened in my heart over what He had done for me a voice calmly and lovingly stated, “It was as it was.”  I drove myself home and repented for my behavior (again) for my complaining and attitude (again) for things I had done and for the sins I had committed against my Lord and Savior.

I resigned myself long ago to the fact that I didn’t have the cornerstone on Jesus, God Almighty and the Holy Spirit but that I could certainly try to become as I believed Christ would have me to. I take communion each morning and just recently, it dawned upon me that I was doing this “in remembrance of the Lord” and the horrible death He suffered for me.  If I could just remember each time I took communion, the way I felt when I watched that movie that MY day wouldn’t seem so hard.  Each day I carry with me Christ crucified which helps me gain a new perspective for that ONE day ahead of me. It is that ¼ shift turn in my thinking that has helped to spur me on.

Passion.  When you are led by passion (His passion) everything else seems to dim in the light of it.

Molly Painter/Jesuswithoutthejunk.com

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