The idea of loss and suffering is usually shied away from in our society. We have a tendency to only want to acknowledge and strive towards what is pleasurable and immediately gratifying, feeding into the idea that this type of pleasure will somehow merit fulfillment. But what if that sort of fulfillment is causing us to lead truncated lives that don’t fully grasp what “fulfillment” really is? It seems that to deny grief, and seasons of sorrow, is to deny a very important part of the human experience, and as a result, deny part of what it means to be human. To be human, we are allowed the gift of emotion; we’re allowed the ability to experience things deeply and it seems that it would be inhumane to forego seasons that make the ones speckled with joy that much more precious.
In response to all of that, and as a response to having some dear friends move far away, I found myself writing this:
Tears cling to my face
The sting of a new season has lifted its head
Beauty has been the steady refrain of this time
And that is why I sit here greeted by the familiar taste of bittersweet change
Each new heartbreak finds the cracks filled with the Refiner’s gold
He knows each story as yet untold
And though we face something new; something foreign and uncertain
We are certain that our God will come through
He never leaves, abandons or forsakes
And when we feel as if our legs are shaking, feeble, our worlds are reeling
He has the scars that have brought about healing
The wounded hearts, our souls to bear
Have been worn on the Cross, mingled with blood and tears
So as the tears cling, and I sit here
I’ll remember your faithfulness
I’ll entrust this transforming, and ever changing heart to you
We can’t escape the inevitable that we will all, at one point or another, suffer. It’s what we do with that suffering that will shape the way our lives are dictated. We can’t always choose what life throws our way, but we have the decision to purposefully entrust ourselves to God knowing that His faithfulness will endure, even in, and arguably more tangibly through our seasons of suffering.
