THE CROSS IS A REMINDER

Dorothy Gilman in Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Cong Buddha: “If living is a process, then how does one arrive anywhere except by…painful process?” The answer is that one does not. Life is a journey and often a painful journey from which there is no escape and no exception. Each and every human being suffers along the way, somehow in some way.

Granted, we do all that we can to avoid suffering. We go on diets, get enough exercise, take time for rest and relaxation, avoid stress as much as possible most of the time, or at least we wish it were most of the time. But not always and it is when we are lax in taking care of ourselves, we suffer and then have no one to blame but ourselves for our lack of diligence and intention.

Yet, no matter how hard we work at keeping healthy, there is no escape from pain and suffering: physical, mental and spiritual. None. We know that and we reluctantly admit that truth. But we also know that in hindsight, if we take the time to reflect back our pain and suffering, that we have grown from that suffering. We are a different person, one we would not be had we not suffered.

That is not to say that we welcome suffering in order to grow. That’s foolish and only a fool suffers without a reason – like going on a diet and getting enough exercise in order to live a better and healthier life. Yet, even in that kind of suffering we learn the value of a proper diet and a proper lifestyle, or at least we can and should. If you’re like me, even those hard learned lessons can be easily forgotten as the weight goes back on.

Nevertheless, Gilman’s observation still holds: we usually learn nothing or very little from the good times. We simply enjoy them and are thankful, as we should do and be. It is when those crosses come into our lives that we need to be primed for a learning experience, but only afterwards. While we are in pain, we have enough on our platter just to deal with it as best we can. It is only afterwards that we are able to reflect on what we have learned and how we have grown from what we just went through.

What we have learned, for starters, is that we were not alone. More often than not others have been with us as we struggled. They supported us and helped us through. And even in those times when we thought we were all alone with no one around to hold our hand (or keep us from eating the wrong foods), we were not. We knew they were with is in thought and prayer.

What we also knew is what the cross is a reminder of, namely that God knows what we are going through and God will help us get through even if the pain and suffering are not removed. I think that perhaps one of the reasons why God allows us to suffer is that God knows, and we should know from hindsight, is that that is the only way we will grow. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for us humans, we should be thankful.