Suffering's Chalice ~ F ... Price Tags
Soul Snack 116/14 ... We lift the chalice of suffering, bend over it and peer in, hoping to see shimmering contents that reflect a once hidden understanding.
What value can ease the pain?
A desperately distressing echo bounces about my soul when I hear suffering explained in terms that justify it with a price-tag.
(How could Auschwitz be ever valued in human terms, what price such suffering?)
Comments such as these can haunt me:
- he had to go through this to become a better person or
- her loss was for his gain.
While these reflections may be accurate to a measure, is the seeking of the 'price-tag' in fact a devaluing of the pain?
Calvary had a 'price-tag' attached, a quantifiable value. Mankind also seeks to apply this 'price-tag'.
BUT man is far less equipped (indeed incompetent) to stick 'price-tags' upon suffering.
We gave you our lives years ago, Lord. Shall we take them back when things get difficult? Renege our deal? Not accept the bitter with the sweet? ~ Sheridan Voysey
In laying hold of information vacuums (the omission of reason), the hollowness of human thinking can scarcely suffice. There is so much more unsaid, for it is unknown.
The end of Job resonates dissatisfaction (Chapter 38) for it is empty of explanation.
In the midst of pain it is wise to remember that God remains good and. yes, He is gracious. It is easy to forget that there is still a vivid color in the world when life drones on in listless gray. ~ Rich Miller
The prayer arises:
O Lord how important is it really to grasp our pain-filled passage through life, when your persistent theme is to live by an uncompromising faith and not by sight?
Today's Soul Snippet:
"Having a heart to bless will challenge the judgemental mind-set that can color how we look at those we live with and among." ~ Roy Godwin
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