WHY SUFFERING?

 

 

 

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In last Sunday's mass (Easter Sunday), the monsignor posed the question.... 'Why me?' ... He was referring to man's reaction to suffering. I waited for the answers to that much overused line with bated breath. But the homily went on for extra more lengths yet... it looked like no answers were forthrightly coming. Instead he went on to extoll the significance of the Risen Lord. He pointed to the cross but didn't make the proper effort to jell the whole story (suffering and salvation) into one neat package the parishioners would likely understand. To make a long story short, I came out of it with the same fuzzy brain on the subject as when I entered the church earlier.
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Anyway........
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Why do we suffer?
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Allow me to venture my own thoughts on it...
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We all go through the sieve of suffering. I had and have my share. Through it all I have learned a few things which I would like to share with anyone who would care to stop awhile and listen.
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Suffering has its own significance as joy has when it comes to us. It's significance rolls out greatly to our favor if you pay it close attention.
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THROUGH THE FIRE WE ARE TESTED. ---- Like gold is tested through fire, we are made to go through trials with the sole purpose to bring out the best in us.... new and better strengths, courage, hope, faith, resilience, focus, determination, enlightened spirit. Struggles bring out innate talents and abilities, brilliance and resourcefulness which we thought weren't there at all. We then begin to see ourselves as who we really are.... worthy children of God.
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NO GUTS - NO GLORY ---- We get or receive from life what we put into it. If you are content just watching the world revolve by your lonesome self, nothing great will come to your table. On the other hand, if you believe in big dreams -- in the universe's promise of fulfillment to those who bravely reach out for the stars -- to pushing your gifts and talents towards the goal -- and emblazon the skies with confident prayers of trust and faith, things will begin to shape up and honor your belief.
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DIVINE BLUEPRINT OF OUR LIVES ---- No matter how you see it, no matter through whose eyes you see.... you cannot escape what is very clear -- that life and its struggles are just the blueprint of our lives BY DIVINE DESIGN. Struggles though may come in a diversity of rhyme or reason, size or shape, intensity or importance.. but all of that still are called struggles. Others may call it difficulties, trials, tests, hurdles, hardships, affliction, persecution, discipline, challenges..... different words, same meaning and intent. And it's there because Somebody of great wisdom included it in His divine plan.
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MADE TO GROW ---- Simply said... we are made to grow. It's not a request. Rather it's an expectation coming from the Big Guy upstairs. He expects us to grow. Every time He sees us ---- lazy .. nonchalant .. irresponsible .. content in mediocrity .. foolishly proud and conceited .. rejecting change ----- He pushes the button 'Grow'......... and immediately the trials come pouring down on our stupid and stubborn heads all meant to force us to grow up and grow.
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It might hurt, sure it does. I gnash my teeth, clench my fist, curse the high heavens, blame everybody but myself, cry floods of tears, and ache deeply in my heart....... and yet nothing is changed -- it is still part of life and living.
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BUT for a wonderful reason! By God's design. We have a wise and magnificent GOD! His thoughts, not our thoughts; His ways, not our ways. Thank God it is the way it is.
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I wish wonderful blessings for everyone. God bless you!

PROOF OF HOPE

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"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

Just like everybody else, I get ...disappointed - frustrated - exasperated - overwhelmed - irritated - annoyed... when things don't happen the way I expect them to. Particularly in world affairs. The world is in a huge mess but it appears that those who can are too slow in sorting it out or in working out solutions. They hem-and-haw, grandstand on some, and can't avoid dipping their greedy fingers into the pot of politics and funds. I guess we need not look far outside our borders to see that.

Reading this book 'Limitless' by Nick Vujicic led me to some unlearning of old ideas which no longer serve,  relearning of old wisdom, or the learning of new ones. Made me refocus to see that which truly matters. It is found right there on the ground among the people themselves.

This is what matters......

-----when individuals or families devastated by huge catastrophes yet stand up and courageously move forward to a future they believe awaits them. They hope to rebuild their broken lives once more.
-----when a laborer perseveres in his backbreaking job with his eyes set on his young children's future education. He hopes to give his children a better future.
-----when an OFW sets aside a portion of his pay as he builds his or her dream with every money added to it. He hopes one day to come home to reap his just reward and share the blessings with loved ones.
-----when a cancer patient goes through the utter discomfort of chemotherapy sessions. He hopes for healing one day soon. He believes he will be healed.

You can find other proof of courage and bravery, of faith and hope around us. This is what suffering - struggles - troubles teach us. HOPE.  We don't owe it to ourselves but to a wise God who put it there in our hearts for a purpose. And this purpose, I believe, is to enable us to get on with life and living regardless of circumstances.

Hope is a gift. God knew that we would be needing it to carve a better future for ourselves....  to unlock hidden potential and talent...  to believe in our strengths and courage...  to enable us to see the good in men...  to help shape a better world if we so much as try...  to live our faith.

Hope springs eternal, indeed.
Have a great day. God will bless you today. You gotta believe that! :-)

FOR A BETTER SELF

It's a fine sunny morning and I'm getting more of what I love....  blue skies, green trees, warm sun, and a cool refreshing wind. Thank you!

'Thank you' to WHO or WHOM? Whichever rides well for our Grammar Nazis. But do please carry on; we all got our jobs to do, respectively.

Well, apparently you know who I'm thanking for my lovely day. Not only for the lovely day but for waking me up, feeling good, being in my own home and with my precious family, for food on my table, for clothes on my back, shoes for my feet, and a smiling wallet.... not much in there but enough to make me smile.

There's one other thing I'm also grateful for. 'Life isn't a bed of roses' as an old cliche goes but as I look back now I can honestly say that I'm thankful for the thorns too.

Oh I know that isn't easy. Not easy when you one day find yourself in the midst of a failed relationship, a broken bone, losing someone you love, a misfortune, a broken dream, or just very bad bad people who made life even much more miserable for you.

Now don't use science or intellectualize that pain or suffering. It's not all about  'why me?'  or  'why this?'  because nothing of those will explain it as it was not meant for that in the first place. It's for something bigger... much bigger. By some Supreme Design.

To cut a long story short, as gold is refined through great heat or fire.... so are we. And the point of it all? --- To make us become our better selves. In human history, to get to a point of glory one goes through some conflict, struggle, or strife. That is the same in our ordinary small mundane lives here in our respective tiny little corners of the world. 

Who has not become a --- wiser, more mature, broadminded and understanding, better able to be kind and compassionate towards others, better able to comprehend the complexities of life and people --- after going through an experience of suffering, affliction, misery, conflict, or adversity? Admit it, it opens doors to the mind, heart, and soul. Things you haven't fully understood before is now somehow better understood. Suffering helps us build our character. And that, I believe, is the Supreme Design.

And if perchance that some understanding isn't there yet, well... I hate to say this but God isn't finished with you or me or him or her or them or us... yet.

Still, thank God even through your pain. There's a bigger plan to it. Pray for faith, trust, discernment and understanding.

May the blessings of God be upon you and your families in this Lenten observance and season. God bless you!

 

SUFFERING IS A TOOL ONE OF MANY TO HIGHER GROUND

---------- She asked 'why do I need to suffer?'

I was thinking of ignoring the question and just smile, shrug my shoulders, and move on to another subject. But her eyes told me differently. What and why I do not know and neither would I ask. There are places that one must not tread on, even in friendships.

I don't have the answer to that nor pretend to know. But others perhaps could as gleaned from own experience. That enough can be quite confusing, let alone leave you wondering. Because I once asked that same question long ago and I got gazillions of answers to it. Yet each was sufficient to its own. I now understand. And now have added mine to that same pot.

Nobody likes to suffer. It's one word in the dictionary that people wished wasn't there. Everybody knows that suffering changes lives, like it or not. But we know too that when one suffers it most definitely is caused by something or someone.

Hers was caused by someone. That much I can say.

The one who suffers may think that everything is lost, that the world gave up on her, that misery is her company for the rest of her life. I beg to disagree to that. Suffering as bad as it may seem or look to anyone is not hopeless. Fact is, it holds a promise somewhere there just waiting to be uncovered or revealed. But one has to look very hard to see it or better yet with steel bravery seek it out. Because when you do --- a thousand doors begin to unlock, windows fling wide open, and your soul soars to higher grounds.

the blind tenor ----- andrea bocelli
blind and deaf ----- helen keller
deaf composer ----- ludwig van beethoven
and many others more lived that promise.

The person who caused the suffering won't, as you may perhaps think otherwise, go scot-free. How is this? In the deep of the night when everything is quiet his soul goes to work. It begins to gnaw at his conscience. Oh yes, it's still there but he just tries to ignore it or push it aside or bury it at the far bottom. Unfortunately conscience is something you can't extinguish delete or eliminate yourself. In some it may take awhile or longer, but definitely it will do what it was set out to do. Outwardly the person may live a life seemingly unperturbed by his misdeeds but that's just a facade. One that would soon break down as he constantly day by day struggles with keeping a lie he fiercely adheres to and warding off truth arrows seeking to pierce his armor.

That isn't all it is yet because one day he will have to contend with someone coming forward with the truth, or someone who will look him straight in the eye and say -- 'Enough!'. Or as Judas must have felt when he caused Jesus' suffering, the burden of misery and guilt would now fall upon his head.

So then while the one who suffers may have learned to cope and move on perhaps to bigger and brighter things, the one who caused the suffering would be journeying to his own destruction. 'Whatsoever you shall sow.... so shall you reap."

Suffering, as seen through the eyes of God, is not an abomination nor a perceived punishment as many may wont to or customarily believe. It's simply a tool, one of many, to work God's purpose... to lift one up to higher ground of hope, faith, courage, glory or splendor. Like gold is passed through fire to come out shining, one must go through some pain to get to the place of joy and happiness. But take heed and pay close attention and learn.

We will never know God's thoughts and ways. But all that we need to do is trust in His work in our lives. It behooves us to understand this well for our peace and joy.

So to my friend and your question, why not try to have a good chat with your God -- He'll help you figure that out. He always does magnificently. God bless you. ----------