{"id":63,"date":"2016-04-05T21:16:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T21:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html"},"modified":"2016-04-05T21:16:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T21:16:00","slug":"a-different-perspective-on-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html","title":{"rendered":"A Different Perspective on Suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, Maryland<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/i>
<\/i>But if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,<\/i>
Thou wilt not find it in this world again,<\/i>
Nor in another; here, and here alone,<\/i>
Is given thee to suffer for God\u2019s sake.\u00a0<\/i>
In other worlds, we shall more perfectly<\/i>
Serve Him and love Him, praise Him, work for Him,<\/i>
Grow near and nearer Him with all delight;<\/i>
But then we shall not any more be called<\/i>
To suffer, which is our appointment here.<\/i>
Canst thou not suffer then one hour, \u2014 or two? <\/i>~Ugo Bassi<\/p>\n

Human nature is to try and \u201cslip our cross.\u201d We avoid suffering at all costs, and perhaps on some level, we should. As far as I can tell, the Word never calls us to seek<\/i> suffering. But suffering often seeks us \u2013 and finds. So the question then becomes, what do we do with it?<\/p>\n

What did Jesus do with it?<\/p>\n

First, he asked for it to be removed from him. \u201cFather, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me \u2026\u201d (Luke 22:42)<\/p>\n

But the answer was no, and the cup remained. And so, Jesus lived out the second part of that verse: \u201cNevertheless, not My will, but Yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suffering was the very reason he came to earth. If he had somehow been excused from that divine appointment, you and I would be in deep trouble. He would have left this earth without providing a way for us to escape eternal suffering and damnation. I cannot imagine my life without what happened on Calvary, and\u00a0I am overjoyed<\/i> that Christ obeyed the Father and accepted his lot of suffering, even to the point of death.<\/p>\n

But why am I not overjoyed at my own suffering? When I get to \u201cother worlds\u201d, my chance to suffer will be -poof!-<\/i> gone. All I can do once I\u2019m in Heaven is serve, love, praise, and work for him. I can no longer suffer with him or for him.<\/p>\n

That is cause to rejoice, but it is also cause to accept, with gladness, the lot I\u2019ve been given. And yet, all the time, I wiggle this way and that, doing my best to escape from even the lightest cross. If I\u2019m cold, I buy wool socks and a vehicle with seat warmers. If I\u2019m hot, I crank up the AC. And then there are the heavy crosses. Like this ongoing, incurable illness. If it\u2019s not me<\/i> looking for a way of escape from such heavy suffering, it\u2019s someone else. One of my doctors will order blood work, and the results will come back bad, because they always do, and again, remedial measures are explored.<\/p>\n

The message is: let\u2019s get rid of this danged suffering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Where John Wilkes Booth suffered with a broken leg<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I appreciate the effort, really. But I\u2019ve been at chronic illness long enough to know that a cure is out<\/i> there<\/i>, not here<\/i>. The cure lies in the other world \u2013 the world where the appointment book for suffering has been destroyed, once and for all.<\/p>\n

Too often, though I\u2019ve accepted my health problems as incurable, I still think in terms of why, why me, why now, why this way, why everything? <\/i>I look at healthy women my age and ask why not like her, why not me, why not now, why can\u2019t I?<\/i>\u00a0I don\u2019t look in the mirror and say, \u201cCanst thou not suffer one more hour, \u2014 or two?\u201d<\/p>\n

First of all, who uses words like canst<\/i> and thou<\/i>? \ud83d\ude42 Second of all, who looks suffering in the face and with a smile, says, \u201cBring it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Small is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to that <\/b><\/i>kind of life. Still \u2026 that is the gate I\u2019m called to walk through. Though the road be narrow, and though there be few who find the Way, the fact is, I\u2019m one of the called. Before the foundations of the earth, I was called to be his. And if I\u2019m called to be his, then I\u2019m also called to suffer.<\/p>\n

I have one life to live. One life to share in his sufferings. That life is made up of a multitude of hours, but I only have to take one hour at a time. So with Paul, I have and will continue to ask for the thorn to be removed. But because the answer keeps coming back as \u201cno\u201d, I will attempt to look at things differently. I\u2019ll do my best to be patient \u2013 to accept, not slip, my cross \u2013 and instead ask myself:<\/p>\n

Could you suffer one more hour?\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

And when that hour seems impossible, I will ask myself:<\/p>\n

Could you suffer one more minute?\u00a0<\/i>

<\/i>And the answer will always be:<\/p>\n

His grace is sufficient. With God\u2019s help, I can.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, Maryland But if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,Thou wilt not find it in this world again,Nor in another; here, and here alone,Is given thee to suffer for God\u2019s sake.\u00a0In other worlds, we shall more perfectlyServe Him and love Him, praise Him, work for Him,Grow near and nearer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Different Perspective on Suffering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, MarylandBut if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,Thou wilt not find it in this world again,Nor in another; here,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Different Perspective on Suffering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, MarylandBut if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,Thou wilt not find it in this world again,Nor in another; here,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Felix Culpa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-05T21:16:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/files\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-HRES8yVE33Q\/VwMdFrSr3mI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/LULsaB3UEfkKTlUScWbHiDVLe3AXepP3Q\/s320\/IMG_0291.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html\",\"name\":\"A Different Perspective on Suffering\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-05T21:16:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-05T21:16:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, MarylandBut if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,Thou wilt not find it in this world again,Nor in another; here,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Different Perspective on Suffering\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/\",\"name\":\"Felix Culpa\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/author\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Different Perspective on Suffering","description":"On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, MarylandBut if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,Thou wilt not find it in this world again,Nor in another; here,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Different Perspective on Suffering","og_description":"On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, MarylandBut if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,Thou wilt not find it in this world again,Nor in another; here,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html","og_site_name":"Felix Culpa","article_published_time":"2016-04-05T21:16:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/files\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-HRES8yVE33Q\/VwMdFrSr3mI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/LULsaB3UEfkKTlUScWbHiDVLe3AXepP3Q\/s320\/IMG_0291.JPG"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html","name":"A Different Perspective on Suffering","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-04-05T21:16:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-05T21:16:00+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, MarylandBut if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,Thou wilt not find it in this world again,Nor in another; here,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2016\/04\/a-different-perspective-on-suffering.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Different Perspective on Suffering"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/","name":"Felix Culpa","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/author"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/421"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}