We suffer
when we are not in control.
Loss of control = suffering.
Suffering hurts, of course,
and we typically rail against it.
But is there an upside to suffering?
There is when it knocks us off center,
out of the safety
of our ignorance and complacency,
out of that place
where we are sure we are correct and justified.
Suffering offers the potential
to change us,
and we all need changing.
We all need changing.
Or, one might say,
we all need transforming,
perhaps even redeeming.
Now, I'm no fan of suffering.
I feel, at times,
overwhelmed,
not only by my suffering,
but that of those around me,
around our nation,
around our world,
certainly in the suffering
of the last year...
so much pain, loss, anger, judgement,
ignorance, intolerance, selfishness,
confusion, fracturing.
And while I don't feel comfortable
justifying the suffering of others,
I am comfortable acknowledging
the redemptive possibilities in my own.
Being knocked off my ideological pedestals,
being shoved out of the circle of self-righteous arrogance--
how is this not a good thing?
Suffering accomplishes this.
Here I am,
once again flat on my face,
humbled and helpless.
I look up and see the extended hand,
the hand of God.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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