A Time For Sharing And Giving

By Reverend Paul N. Papas II
November 29, 2016

We can finally breathe. After eight years of being insulted, deceived, mistreated, unjustly reviled and maligned the Eagle will soon be able to soar to new heights again. The abuser is moving out, but somehow I think he’ll be lurking around corners waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

Most of the abuse has been psychological with wounds that may not be visible to the naked eye. Just like in a home, victims of psychological abuse can be of any age or gender. This form of abuse is often difficult to prove. It includes threatening the victim with violence, harassing them at home, outside the home, at school or work, denying the victim access to others (e.g., refusing to allow the victim to see friends, preventing use of the telephone), confining the victim to home or area, destroying or taking the victim’s property. Many abusers will arrange it so that his victims are totally dependent upon the abuser, making it very difficult for the victim to move out. Many abusers will arrange it so that all money and services are controlled by the abuser.

After eight years of abuse fewer people have their homes, their health, or jobs. Black Friday was more like Bleak Friday.

After eight years of abuse the number of suicides is up. Twenty two Veterans a day alone are completing suicide.

We can finally breathe again. The new guy loves the Eagle and is preparing to restore the Eagle’s habitat and make the Eagle great again. The new guy is going about the business of building bridges with various people, some of whom bitterly opposed him. The new guy is refusing his salary and is working for free. The new guy is leading by example, giving and sharing.

We may not have much, but we can dust ourselves off and work with our neighbors to restore the Eagle’s habitat. The task is yuge and may appear to be overwhelming for some. You’ll be surprised how much we can accomplish and how quickly we can accomplish it by working together.

Sometimes overwhelming feelings rise up within us or we face difficult experiences: relational conflict, chronic illness, failure, job loss, and rejection to name a few. When a big problem presents itself, it is tempting to curl into a ball and allow worry to consume us mentally and physically. The best way to overcome the overwhelming tasks is to start working on completing the task. Instead of focusing on the mountain before you focus on pebbles in front of you. As you begin working on the task you will find that you begin to heal from the eight years of abuse.

Christmas is fast coming upon us. May I suggest a gift that will keep on giving, the gift of self sharing time with your neighbors to pitch in to restore the Eagle’s habitat? The life you save may be your own.

Reverend Paul N. Papas II is a Pastoral Counselor with Narrow Path Ministries (MA and AZ) and Founder of the Family Renewal Center (AZ) http://www.narrowpathministries.org and http://www.famlyrenewalcenteraz.org