The Greatest Feeling in the World

What is the greatest feeling in the world? Some would say love, others happiness or peace. But, I would say the greatest feeling in the world is relief. This discovery came about one day while a friend and I were in route to the funeral of a fellow pastor's parent. I was feeling ill with a headache and grumblies in the tumblies. A quick stop at a store for Pepsi and crackers (my aunt's remedy) and I was soon feeling better, much better.

This quick recovery sparked a conversation between the two of us about a man my friend had once known. This person was being interviewed by mental health professionals as to his emotional state and was asked the question posed here today.
"What is the greatest feeling in the world?"
To which he answered, "relief."
My friend then asked him, "What did they say?"
"Nothing." he said, "they just locked me up."

I don't know what the details were surrounding his hospitalization but, I have to say that this person was more insightful than anyone was willing to give him credit. Think about this for a moment, isn't relief at the heart of those things I mentioned earlier? Love, happiness, peace? In fact, isn't relief at the heart of all emotional, physical, even spiritual well being?

When we experience love, are we not on some primal level relieved that someone loves us? If you have ever reached a critical place within a relationship that hints of loss and those problems are worked through, then you know the relief of reconciliation. When we experience happiness (whatever that may be) are we not relieved we aren't in pain? Even in the case of terminal illness, one can experience a form of relief when death is an end to that suffering. In fact many use the term, "they are at peace," when addressing the relief of death.

One of the definitions listed on Dictionary.com for the word relief is, "to free from an enclosed space," like to relieve pressure. I find it interesting that artistic carvings which produce raised images from a flat service are called reliefs. It seems to suggest that the image was somehow freed or liberated from the enclosed space of the medium, (wood or stone) through the act of carving or chiseling. Relief is liberation.

Yes, I do believe that young man held within his grasp the answer to one of life's deeper questions. It's answer can touch the silly to the sublime. It's a simple concept with a far reaching context and it is what I wish for those whom I hold close and for us all, the liberation of relief. Free from all that would bind or limit our full expression of life with our Creator. So, as you go about your daily life may you experience the freedom to be who you are created to be, may you experience relief.