I have met many people in times of suffering, and I've been through some moderate suffering myself. I wish I could say that suffering always resulted in rejoicing. That's not the case. Sometimes suffering only leads us to greater selfishness, complaining, even a sense of despair.

But... (and this is an important exception) ...it doesn't seem to be just any kind of suffering that causes this. It seems to me that certain kinds of suffering tend to encourage certain kinds of responses in us.

I would argue that the hardest suffering for us to endure with faith is not the most painful. It is the most degrading. It is the suffering that tends to take away our pride - our independence - our self-concept that is most likely to cause us to complain. If your view of yourself is wrapped up in your personal appearance or your dignity, then an illness that causes you to be self-conscious, chemotherapy that causes hair loss, surgery that requires a colostomy or which leaves a scar, those things will trouble you more. If your view of yourself is wrapped up in your physical strength, then the need for a cane or a wheelchair may seem a huge burden to you.

But these things are not such a burden to everyone. If our view of our life is such that we see ourselves as God's instrument - one which he reconfigures to use in different times and places - then we can see that our new disability is in reality a new configuration for God to use. Our new place, in a hospital or nursing home perhaps, is a new field of ministry in which the Lord may accomplish his work through us.

The kind of suffering that is most likely to lead to rejoicing is that which causes us to see the line between life and death most clearly. When we see that the Lord is nearly ready to call us home, it is much easier to surrender our earthly values for his eternal ones. Those who are grieving most at a time like this do so because they still insist that their earthly priorities must take precedence.

This is a discussion (well... monologue really) that could go on and on. I haven't touched on other kinds of suffering. Hunger. Poverty. Persecution. But in each case, it seems to me, when we can see God's eternal purpose in it all then it we can rejoice. But when our view is cluttered with earthly irritations, discomforts, and embarrassments, then we find it hard to rejoice.

Where and how could we explore this more? It seems like it would be something worth writing about - and thinking about.