I'm with you on this, sweeping things under the rug does not work, nor do platitudes. Paul leans into and acknowledges his suffering many times. 2 Cor 1:8 "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself." He is very honest with his feelings to himself and others. Meanwhile his long term perspective embraced one of the amazing paradoxes of the Christian life "when I am weak - I am strong".
Here is the full context in 2nd Corinthians. " Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us
You and I have talked before about how that is one of my favorite scriptures, David. And Lauren Manning's words are so powerful in that context.
We have been wounded, and we cannot pretend we have not been touched by adversity, not we can refuse to be held by it.
I think this is the gift that Radical Acceptance brings. This morning I woke to the thought that at times when we may feel parts of our life are DIS-integrating, we find other tracks that give evidence of greater integration with our purpose. A truly universal feeling that the entropy of things breaking down are at the same time building toward a better tomorrow. Both things can be true. We just need to choose to look for them.
Great example Dave...St. Paul should know a few things of being hunted down and experiencing misery by not only people outside of his Faith as a Jew but within his Faith. The quote from him > My Grace is enough for you, for in weakness power reaches perfection! How many people learn from continued success? How many learn from adversities in their life? I may venture more have learned from the challenges. Coming from Boston, MA the Marathon Bombings shattered dreams and trust and kept the people of Boston and surrounding areas on edge for many days. Only the sight of a person from Watertown looking at his boat out back of his house in storage did they discover one of the bombers. Fear is daunting at times, finding reasons for bad things happening doesn't give any solace. Bad things happen to good people all the time. What we learn is that no matter what happens in life, good or bad we have the opportunity to learn and if we believe in God than that's all we need to hope there's a light to head towards, He will give us the torch and we are stronger for it!
I'm with you on this, sweeping things under the rug does not work, nor do platitudes. Paul leans into and acknowledges his suffering many times. 2 Cor 1:8 "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself." He is very honest with his feelings to himself and others. Meanwhile his long term perspective embraced one of the amazing paradoxes of the Christian life "when I am weak - I am strong".
Here is the full context in 2nd Corinthians. " Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us
A beautiful reflection Greg... "On him we have set our hope..."🙏🏻
You and I have talked before about how that is one of my favorite scriptures, David. And Lauren Manning's words are so powerful in that context.
We have been wounded, and we cannot pretend we have not been touched by adversity, not we can refuse to be held by it.
I think this is the gift that Radical Acceptance brings. This morning I woke to the thought that at times when we may feel parts of our life are DIS-integrating, we find other tracks that give evidence of greater integration with our purpose. A truly universal feeling that the entropy of things breaking down are at the same time building toward a better tomorrow. Both things can be true. We just need to choose to look for them.
"Both things can be true. We just need to choose to look for them." This is the way...
So well said
Thank you. 🙏🏻
Great example Dave...St. Paul should know a few things of being hunted down and experiencing misery by not only people outside of his Faith as a Jew but within his Faith. The quote from him > My Grace is enough for you, for in weakness power reaches perfection! How many people learn from continued success? How many learn from adversities in their life? I may venture more have learned from the challenges. Coming from Boston, MA the Marathon Bombings shattered dreams and trust and kept the people of Boston and surrounding areas on edge for many days. Only the sight of a person from Watertown looking at his boat out back of his house in storage did they discover one of the bombers. Fear is daunting at times, finding reasons for bad things happening doesn't give any solace. Bad things happen to good people all the time. What we learn is that no matter what happens in life, good or bad we have the opportunity to learn and if we believe in God than that's all we need to hope there's a light to head towards, He will give us the torch and we are stronger for it!
I love this. It speaks to me in my current situation providing reassurance and understanding I didn't know was out there. Thank you
I'm so glad Caroline. You are most welcome. 🙏🏻
Beautiful