LOVE IN SPITE OF HURT…

by Lillian Baker Wolff

The words “love as though you have never been hurt” caught my attention.  I heard a television minister speaking of Satchel Paige and it interested me. Those were some of the profound words that Satchel had said in his life time.  I knew that Satchel had lived here in Kansas City and we have a local ball park named after him.  I decided to look up information on him.

He was the oldest rookie player in the league, having started for the Cleveland Indians when he was forty-two years old.  Most players are retired at that age.  He had played, however, in various black minor leagues.  Those were the days when prejudice was rampant.  He was the second black player to be accepted to play in the major leagues.   Satchel did not grow up with riches, but rather poverty.   Like most of us, he had lots of hurts.  Included among those are being rejected because of his race.   Then he married his school sweetheart and that ended in the heart break of divorce.  But he never gave up on life and no wonder he could say,  “Love as though you have never been hurt.”

To love someone, who has brought you hurt, is extremely difficult but it is possible with the help of God.  There are many who have given up on life and more perfectly on people.   Once hurt, the old saying goes, twice shy.   But we dare not give up on life or on people.   There are no perfect people on this planet and of course, people can sometimes be a pain.  Once one gives their heart to others there is the always possibility of having it broken.   Believe me, when I say that a broken heart is worse than having a physical ailment.   It hurts, oh, how much it hurts.

But when we are hurt, we must pick up ourselves and try again.  Satchel went on and found another love and God blessed him with seven children.   He spent many of his days right here in Kansas City and is buried in the Forest Hill Memorial Cemetery.    Think of what he would have lost had he given up on baseball because of being rejected.   Today he is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.   Think of what he would have lost had he given up on love.   Thank God, he didn’t.

Maybe you are about at your “wit’s end” and are thinking of giving up on life and relationships.  You are saying, “I will never trust or love again.”

But I say to you, “Don’t give up.   Sometimes the best things are just around the corner.”   It may not seem like it right now, but God wants the very best for you.   Don’t allow satan to cheat you out of what God has planned for your life.

IF WE KNOW THAT GOD’S HAND IS IN EVERYTHING,

WE CAN LEAVE EVERYTHING IN GOD’S HANDS.