Suffering Succotash!

Theres no better perspective of "suffering" than sitting in a hospital.. not as the patient... but as a guest... walking down the luminated hallways and glossy floors... passing each room... hearing cries for help... groans... and the rush of gurneys transporting suffering subjects to and from expensive flashy machines... (newfangled stuff)...

While typing this, a crash is heard in the hospital room right next to where im visting with my grandpa.. its 6am... i hear the male nurse scream and yell for help... a cardiac patient had fallen face first on the floor...blood was everywhere... nurses were running... towells... supervisors.. incident reports... the drip of machines seemed louder... anxiety covered the entire floor as patients woke up from the fuss..

i looked at my grandfather... and he sat completely still... i was so thankful...that we do not leave him alone... to fall... not here... on this cold floor... i see his suffering eyes... 97 years of experience... he still makes jokes.. the nurses call him trouble... and he recalls dates/times unlike any man ive ever met... yet he suffers... breathing is his poison....something we all take for granted...

Yet suffering is something we all have in common... because we all.. at one point or another... will suffer... some of us may suffer from infirmity like my grandfather... subject to the control of strangers and visiting family members... breathing thru machines...others of us suffer from heartache... the pain of loss, divorce, broken promises, disloyalty... maybe we have created our own suffering saga because of our own choices... we can only run and hide so long...the blisters of sin... all... eventually erupt... sores cant always be hidden... left untreated... they become our scars...

So how do we handle suffering? Maybe its all in our perspective of suffering... The Apostle Paul looks at suffering in a different way than most of us do. In Romans 8:18 he says "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (this meaning that our suffering 'beautifies" us)..what??? right now... suffering equals pain... later... suffering equals growth and glory...

So many of us suffer at work... we are underappreciated and overworked... our hearts will become bitter if our "self-worth" centers around the approval of others...instead..we do the best we can..knowing that... our work is valued far more by the One who sees our motives.... and knows our hearts...

We suffer at home... feeling loved is essential.. and yet some of us fall asleep each night... wondering.. if we are loved... so many hearts out there ache... not just the fallen of souls... but the good-hearted... sweet... bubbly personality that everyone seems to loathe... inside they are broken... it is our duty to search out the saddened heart.. and be a blessing to them.. setting aside our own brokeness.. and loss.. and failures.. and focusing on the "prize" (the calling of God)...1 Peter 2:21 "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."

Blessings alone do not open our eyes. Indeed, blessings by themselves tend to close our eyes. We do not come to know Him in the blessing, but in the breaking. --Chip Brogden

Suffering