The Value Of Suffering

A man found a cocoon hanging on a branch.  One day a small opening appeared.  He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body  through that little hole.  Then it seemed to stop making any progress.  It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.  So the man decided to help the butterfly.  He took a pair of scissors and snipped  off the remaining bit of the  cocoon.  The butterfly then emerged easily.  But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and  expand to be able to  support  the body, which would contract in time.  Neither happened!  In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.  It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives.  If God allowed us to go through our lives without  any  obstacles, it would cripple us.  We would not be as strong as what we could have been.  We could never fly!

St. Paul writes: …We boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  (Romans 5:3-5 NRSV)

The Peace Child

Don Richardson talks about working as an American missionary with certain tribes in Eastern New Guinea who are at war with each other in his book, "The Peace Child."  In that culture the great heroes are those who best practice treachery.  To trick your enemy is the ultimate feat.  They fatter their enemies with friendship and then slaughter them.  Nearby villages are lulled into believing that peace is desired and after a period of time to honor this new friendship a feast is given.  People are invited from the tribes with which they are at war to come to the feast and when they arrive they are informed that they are to be the meal.  And after eating them the cannibals with great delight tell the story over and over again of how they tricked their enemies into trusting them.  Richardson had a special problem taking the Gospel story to them.  For them Judas was the hero.  As they heard the story they admired Judas, because he tricked them all.  Richardson after trying to get through to them, finally in great discouragement, told them he was going to leave.   He couldn't help them and was very discouraged about their continued fighting.  Since he was a missionary doctor his antibiotics had helped many.  They didn't want to lose him.  So in a panic the hostile tribes decided once more to seek a truce.  But their problem was how to convince Richardson and each other that this truce was not just another example of treachery.  When you've lied so often, no one knows when you are telling the truth.  So in order to communicate to Richardson their honesty, their good will, they did something incredible.  One of the tribesmen went to his wife. who had a baby not yet a year old.  He took the baby, lifted it up over his head and walked across the battlefield to the other village.  He handed his baby to the other tribe and said, "This baby is now your baby.  And as long as you raise this baby and take care of it, it will be a sign between the two of us that our peace is genuine.”  This act of self-sacrifice by this leader convinced the other villagers that this was a truce that they could trust.  The celebrations began and it was agreed that the child would carry the name of the other village and it served as a bond between the two villages from that day on.  This child was known as the "peace child."  Now Richardson knew he could share the Gospel.  So he told them the story of one who was sent from the heavens to this hostile world, sent as a peace child to bring about a truce.  He was one whom God lifted upon on a cross for our peace.  And as long as we believe in the gift of this peace child God has made peace with us.

Reason or Experience

When we are dealing with spirituality and faith, we may struggle with the tension between an intellectual and experiential relationship with God.  On the one hand, we may emphasize reason and intellect to the exclusion of religious experience.  Doctrine, its pursuit and preservation, is all that really matters.  Because of the excesses in fundamentalist and non-denominational groups, we may become suspicious of the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit.  This results in a faith which is distant, lacking passion, and ineffective in our lives today.  On the other hand, we may withdraw from the contemplative dimension.  In this case, meditation and the “signs of the kingdom” (e.g. healing, miraculous gifts of the Spirit) are considered time bound to the New Testament era and maybe even to be feared.  In the process we lose the deep, mystical awareness of the presence of God in our lives.  Faith becomes a set of doctrines we give assent to and not a life transforming relationship.  In reality, we are called to give our whole selves – physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual – to the Lord and our relationship with Him.  It is by His promised Spirit that we live as the disciples of Jesus.

Stormy Waters

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As I contemplate the events of this past week in the northeast, I recall the many summers we vacationed at Houghten Lake, Michigan.  This particular summer I was five.  Dad and I would go fishing every day, but this day the sky looked particularly dark.  We went anyhow.  About hour from our cottage we saw that a bad storm was coming up.  The dark clouds churned, the wind blew, white caps began to toss our boat, and I was scared to the bone.  I just knew that I was going to drown.  Dad saw my fear.  I'll never forget what he said.  "Art, I think we can ride the storm out.  I just want to tell you two things.  If the boat turns over, hang on.  It won't sink.  And secondly, no matter what happens, I'll never leave you."  And right out there in the middle of that raging storm, a deep sense of calm came over me.  He would be there.  God wants to tell us today that when our life is stormy, "No matter what happens, I'll never leave you."

 Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.”  (Mark 4:39)