Rejoice in Suffering
Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you,
and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to
Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Colossians 1:24
Dear Friends,
Last night, while ashes were still on my forehead, I walked to our local co-op grocery store. As I waited in the checkout line I saw the magazines all had some version of mindfulness with “follow your bliss,” “your best life now,” “rest, restore, renew, revive.” I thought of my ashes and how many of these magazines—and American Christian culture—ignores how fragile life truly is. Our culture tells us we must rise above suffering, look past it to the better life elsewhere. Make a dream board and will it into existence. Buy this magazine, this item, this vacation, this life you want for everything to be right.
In the Princess Bride, Princess Buttercup says to Westley, “You mock my pain.” Westley famously retorts back, “Life is pain highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.”
We are all desperate for the good news of our belovedness without being sold, hoodwinked, or manipulated. Sadly Christians have long brought “good news” in the form of turn-or-burn—like Jesus isn’t compelling enough without hell’s pitchfork prodding a person towards Him. The Christian who is suffering because they’re being a dick when bringing forth “good news” isn’t the kind of suffering Paul is speaking towards in this verse. In the Roman culture Paul lived in, bringing good news of a person’s belovedness simply as they are without having political party, family name, or wealth attached to it could bring persecution. Isaiah 52:7 says how beautiful the feet of the person bringing good news of peace and salvation in the kindest way possible.
How beautiful the feet. In ancient times, people wore sandals and their feet would get torn up, covered with scratches and injury, prone to infection from long journeys. Those wounded feet were beautiful because they carried belovedness to others. Perhaps there was some suffering and pain involved, but it was worth it to bear the truth of God’s love, peace, and salvation in the kindest way possible.
Maybe it feels safer to follow your bliss or live your best life now and avoid suffering. But no matter how much we try, we can’t avoid pain or suffering because life is full of it. I think Paul says it rightly in the verse above: “I rejoice in what I am suffering for you…”. Mindfulness isn’t a practice that assists you to rise above. Mindfulness kindly invites you to honestly experience every truth of the moment—the suffering, pain, uncertainty, mortality—without judgement or condemnation. It’s there in the honest suffering with Christ you might see your belovedness and rejoice. It’s there in the honest suffering with Christ you might take that belovedness to others, for this is good news.
With (love),
Bethany