Thankful Thursday: Song Lyrics

It’s Thankful Thursday and this week it's all about song lyrics. I love a good song and if you know what I know, for the most part they are about finding, being or losing love.

On last week's “The Voice”, one of Gwen Stefani’s vocalists chose a song about the loss of love and while he sang the song beautifully, Gwen didn’t think he had adequately embraced the pain of the lyrics. As she coached him, she declared, “don’t waste the pain!” Brilliant.

Life informs us that we will go through something and something again. Oh, and again. And that pain may have nothing at all to do with love. Did I just channel Tina Turner’s “What’s love got to do with it?”

It may have to do with the job or promotion you didn’t get. Or maybe your thesis or dissertation. Or that lemon of a car you just purchased. Or that root canal you just had. There are countless things that stand in line to cause us emotional, mental, spiritual or physical pain. And it can feel impossible to find anything in it but pain.

Yet as the pain subsides, and it will, I invite you to pay close attention to what you’re learning about yourself. Is it about resilience? Tenacity? Strength? Patience? The ability to rest and slow it down for a bit? Did you find appreciation in the joy you experienced before the pain? Were you able to pump the brakes and not slide to a hard stop? Did you learn about some unknown grit that helped you push through? Did you find grace in the pain and the recovery? Did you find forgiveness?

Who knew that we’d be thanking the "Holla Back" woman, Gwen Stefani, for the reminder that there is more to our pain, than pain. Don’t waste what it’s telling you!