EVERY ROSE HAS IT'S THORN

Being a person that has chronic pain ,illness and mobility issues, finding a religious path has been a major challenge for me. Because there is a mindset within all the faith traditions I have been into that although not always spoken, but sometimes it is, it is the prevailing mindset in them that is troubling and not compassionate, therefore leaves me feeling somewhat always accused of being something less than . Which is one of many reasons I am solitary.
 Within Christianity there is a strong belief in some groups that God or Jesus heals you of all your diseases in this life span and so if you have faith, you can be healed, if you are not healed it is because you lack   faith or God is dealing with you on some 'sin' issues and somehow 'He' is unhappy with me and that I am the reason for my problems.

Or  because of your sins  God is teaching you something through your problems so you can repent and mend your ways, in any case YOU have a problem and it is YOUR fault you are sick and you  are ill or have difficulties or YOU let the devil in to your life some how. So there you are, this is what is going through many Christian's minds when they see you ,how else can they explain me when their teachings are so clear,right? So of course YOU have nothing to offer them since you can't work out YOUR own problems,they say" come back when you are successful or have repented of what ever sins you are hiding , THEN we will listen to what you have to say" when you have a better testimony.

On the Pagan Magickal or New Age path the mindset is , that if you are ill or have some kind of health issues it is because, YOU somehow drew it towards YOURSELF because of the thoughts YOU THOUGHT or it is a Karmic pay back for the life you had before this one and in any case it is YOUR FAULT. Or YOU chose this life before you were born and you have to learn the lessons from it. Or from the Magickal community, if you are sick why haven't you done a spell or magickal working to rid you of this? You must not be very good at it. And if you are sick you should not ever do magick or if you are on medications you can't do magick.

Or if you can't heal your self or get yourself out of the trouble you are in you have NOTHING to offer me. In any case there is not much for you here because YOU have nothing to offer us since you are so full of illness and or pain, come back when you over come it and then we will listen to you.  So because of this I have not been able to camp out in any particular religious mind frame.
I have  nothing profound or full of wisdom to say here, just one of the many reasons I do not fit into any particular religious mindset.  It is just an observation I have over the years .

Do I have an answer to this? I know I am not welcomed because I force people to see that their particular religious beliefs does not always come through for everyone. Many believe that they have a safety net under them that if they fall they will be caught and all will be better . No one wants to suffer, it is not a choice any of us would make on purpose. I and many like me prove that there is no safety net. There is no savior that will save you from this world full of thorns and all the crap that can happen to you. People do not want their happy and healthy bubble to burst. This life is not a bed of roses without the thorns. People of strong faith and magickal ability fall sick, lose their livelihood, get injured, lose a loved one  and all will die in spite of strong faith and magickal abilities they may have . so what is the point of all of this?


We all will suffer something in this life and we are all going to die whether you like it or not and my presence and others like me is a strong reminder of that. You can keep your religions that don't teach you how to live and cope and love in a world full of thorns. You can keep your religions that does not give you the tools to fight and survive and live on in spite of the storms in life.

I have found that in this life there will be many thorns but it is worth it all because there is always a gift waiting at the end of that stem. A religion that does not teach you that life has thorns and that it is natural  to have times of suffering ,is not authentic or true. A religion that  does not teach  that life has many difficulties and you will have many difficulties but those difficulties is the what  cultivates the right stuff that matters most in our growing process.

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Therefore I walk on my Eclectic Celtic Christian path ,because it makes it clear what life's purpose is  . It takes the roses with the thorns . Knowing that life is full of beauty like a rose, but it will prick you often because there are more thorns on a stem than there are flowers, just so you know. But oh how wonderful the colors and the smell of that rose, it is worth the journey, it is worth it all. A spiritual path that teaches that this life is a proving ground for something bigger than we can imagine is the one I choose to follow. It may not be the only way , but for me, I think it is, because it answers so many more of my  questions than any other way of thinking. This life is not about finding happiness now although when you can have happiness and joy , enjoy it with all your heart, but know a flower only blooms for a short time so enjoy it while you can. But I choose to seek a lasting joy and happiness which  reaps for me something more enduring than a fleeting moment of bliss.
For what it was worth
PATC