Victim or product?

Like it or not, we are all either victims or products of our own experiences.  Our lives are a succession of situations and happenings that shape who we are.  Are we a victim or a product?  Have a little think.  What are the things that impact and shape us?  To understand ourselves liberates us to understand why we are the personalities we have become.  It brings freedom.  Freedom to use our experiences in the future.

The person who can articulate the movements of their inner life, who can give names to their varied experiences, need no longer be a victim of themself, but is able slowly and consistently to remove the obstacles that prevent the Holy Spirit from entering.  They are able to create space for Him whose heart is greater than theirs, whose eyes can see more than theirs, and whose hands can heal more than theirs.”

Henri Nouwen believes that this articulation is the basis for Christian relationships, “because only those who are able to articulate their own experience can offer themself to others as a source of clarification.”  We are able to become wounded healers.

Our past becomes useful.  Our future becomes powerful.  A “victim” always remains a victim, and out of control.  A “product” is something that is made, or being made, for a particular purpose.  The products that we become find their purpose in the future, and while ever we reflect on our experiences, and learn, we will be in control, and find usefulness in the future.

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” Philippians 1:6