How do we redeem the suffering in our lives? A central part of The Adventurous Way is discovering a different story about the nature of suffering.
Recently I was reminded once again of the tragedy within Steven Curtis Chapman family. His own son accidentally killed his younger sister. The tragedy of this is almost blinding. What do you say to your son, to the one who kills his own sister? What do you say to your family, to the one’s who are intimately tied to the tragedy? What do you say to yourself, as you ponder the rage towards the crushing evidence that is thrust upon you.
Steven recently responded in probably the best way he knew how, in song. His new CD offers a raw and brutal conversation with God in the midst of tragedy. One reviewer described it as so raw that in fairness to Steven he could not even review it.
We cannot help but ask, “Why does God allow us to suffer?” Its a central question in the human story. But how often do we fail to take the more courageous step and actually discover the answer, to ask, “Who am I being chosen to suffer for?” Suffering is obvious, but the pathway through is not. When we chose to embrace the second question we take on the amazing opportunity of revealing the way through.
The beauty of what Jesus did was show us a way through death, not just into it. He found his courage in the idea that death is not the end, it is a way stop in the process of transcending it. When we hold onto the idea that we are suffering for someone, even ourselves, we give our suffering meaning. We inform it with possibility, with story.
Suffering in this way gives us hope for something that can only be discovered down the road. But in the end what we really discovered is that we were not captive to something. We could overcome.
