Friday, November 6, 2015

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Before I begin this post, I have to ask how many of you have asked this question. If you asked it, was it because you have had your heart broken? Let me submit to you that I understand. I want to take this blogpost and share a little bit of my life in the prayer that it touches your heart and spirit.

This song was on my spirit as I was heading to work this morning. When I first heard the song, it was in the summer of 1984 (and I just turned 10 years old). My summer that year encompassed joy and pain. Let's see, I fell off of my bicycle and ended up with six stitches in my left knee; but at the same time, this is when I would be sexually abused. It was during this time that I heard the song. Many of you will remember this song by Tina Turner (in fact, she won a Grammy for the song). To this day, there's one part of the song that touches me and that's where I want to focus the remainder of this blog. She sings this part near the end of the song:

I've been thinking on a new direction
Well I have to say
I've been thinking about my own protection 
It scares me to feel this way

Even as I type this, it brings tears to my eyes though they are not falling. I believe this post is a release for me and for many others reading this. I do ask a question: how many of you think about your protection if you have been hurt? If you have had your heart broken, you could relate to that part (along with the question, who needs a heart when a heart can be broken). Granted, many hearts have become callous because of that, and I understand. More to say on that in a moment. If you have been abused in any form, you can relate to that part for sure. If you have been neglected, rejected, abandoned in childhood, you can definitely relate. To the last two points, I can wave my hand. 

Before I get close to wrapping up this post, I need to address the question "what's love got to do with it?" Truthfully, love has everything to do with it. You may not have experienced the love you need from childhood or as an adult; but love is the reason why you're still here. I want you wherever you are to just breathe.

If you have seen the movie "What's Love Got To Do With It?", there was a song at the end of the movie when the credits were rolling that was also moving. I saw the movie in 1994 as I was a few days away from leaving home. The chorus of that song moved me (and it summed up how I felt about the things I endured in childhood). It said this:

I don't care who's wrong or right
I don't really want to fight no more
It's time for letting go!

I like that. We don't have to fight anymore. The thing we have to do now is let go of the hurt, the pain and any loose fragments that may come up as you're healing from the hurt you endured. And I'll be honest, when I do certain things in my life, I am thinking about my own protection. I have had my share of wounds in childhood that I'm addressing to this day (so my wall of protection can come down). I encourage you to find where the wall of protection started so you can heal. As always, I have to make a caveat, as the wall comes down, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Don't fully let your guard down.

Blessings, 


The Mayne Man