Into the Badlands and out again
On February 14, 1884 Theodore Roosevelt’s mother was dying in Teddy’s house in NY. In another room in the house his wife was in labor with their first child.
Before the day was over Teddy’s mother Millie succumbed to Typhoid Fever and died. As Teddy was just beginning the grieving process the cry of a baby girl was heard in another room in the house—and then the word came to Teddy that his beloved wife Alice Lee aged 22 had died during child birth from an undiagnosed condition called Bright’s Disease.
Just hours apart in the same house Teddy Roosevelt lost his wife and his mother. What must have been going through his mind? His diary entry for that day tells us clearly, “The light has gone out of my life”.
His entry a few days later is this “For joy or for sorrow my life has been lived out”.
Just a years before he had been re-elected as a state legislator for New York by the widest margin ever and he had become the Minority Leader. But gave it all up and moved to the Badlands of North Dakota where he would stay for two years—broken and discouraged.
But had his life been lived out?
Fifteen years later he became President of the United States and in 1906 he was the first American to be given a Nobel Prize after being elected to the office in 1904.
Overwhelmed by the death of his mother and wife it seemed as though life was over and he spent two years in the Badlands.
Have you ever been there?
Have you ever spent time in the Badlands?
I don’t mean literally I mean it in the way Eugene Peterson sees it. Writing about a difficult time in his life Peterson says, “I entered the interior territory in which the split had originated and found heavily eroded badlands.”
Has suffering or pain taken you to the Badlands of life?
Did you know that your suffering can be part of your stewardship?
Listen to these words from Paul.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 (NIV)
I want you to take a moment to check your pulse.
If you have a pulse you have probably been hurt in one way or another.
Maybe you have been betrayed
By a spouse
By a friend
Maybe you have lost a loved one to death
Perhaps an illness has banished you to the badlands
Maybe your children didn’t turn out like you wanted them too
Any number of things can transport us to the Badlands.
We may be voicing the same words as the psalmist, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?”
Ø My concern is this—are we going to stuff our troubles or steward our troubles?
How does a broken heart fit in stewardship?
Listen to Paul’s words again:
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
This is Philip Hughes comments on these verses:
“Nor is the comfort rec’d from God intended to terminate in the recipient. It has a further purpose…to fit the Christian for the God-like ministry of comforting and encouraging others, whatever the affliction they may be suffering. Those who are continually experiencing comfort from God are particularly fitted to minister to others who stand in need of comfort.”
How can we be stewards of a broken heart?
I’m still working on it.
But let me share some lessons I am learning.
· Take you pain to the Jesus. He understands
Heb. 5:7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Don’t stuff your pain. It will show up someplace else: ulcers, high blood pressure
· Tell God what happened.
· Grieve
· Listen for the voice of God
· Forgive, if there is a need for forgiveness
This is probably the most difficult thing we will ever do, but it can also be the most freeing.
Matthew 6:10 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
>To forgive is to acknowledge that you have been wronged
>To forgive is to hand the problem over to God and let Him handle it
>To forgive does not mean we will forget
>To forgive does not mean we will feel better (It takes at least two years to get over a major trauma.)
· Walk in victory
We are shaped by our sorrows.
“I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota”
Roosevelt's ideas about nature and conservation were also dramatically shaped by experiences in the west.
· Be sensitive to the hurts of others
…who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5
