Past Hurts

A few days ago, I had a conversation with my mother about a painful event in my life that I had long forgotten. Years ago, when I was an infant, one of my family members, decided that they wanted my complexion to remain light.

To do this, the family member in question, put a pamper filled with my urine over my face. The old wives' tale was that this could "make" someone retain their light skinned complexion. (In the African American community, there has long been controversy regarding skin tone.)

When my mother told me about this, I instantly remembered a long forgotten past hurt. My family preferred light skinned family members over dark skinned members. Unfortunately for me, I fell in the category where I was dark skinned. This past hurt, this unresolved conflict, that had lay dormant in the back of my mind was now brought to the forefront.

Past hurts are notoriously difficult to handle. For me, in this case, it would be hard to resolve the hurt with this family member, because this person has been dead for nearly 10 years now. But in the meantime, what do I do?

For me, the process of healing must begin, because it makes no sense to hold onto this painful event. The answer is to move forward with my life and be healed through my relationship with my personal savior, Jesus Christ.

This isn't something that I can do on my own. Because in my own flesh, there is a tendency to remember the pain, and grow angry and bitter from it.

How many of us are holding on to things, I wonder. How many of us are suffering from past hurts? How many people have hurt us that are no longer around? It's time for me to let go and let God.