The Glory of Pain

"As we allow ourselves to experience our own pain, we can know that what we feel is Christ suffering in us and redeeming us...there is no way of healing from the wounds each of us carries except through the love of Jesus Christ."

This is a quote from Brennan Manning's book, "The Signature of Jesus". For some odd reason, I have this notion in my head that there are people out there who are living lives free of pain and suffering. Now this may be true in the physical sense, but I highly doubt that there is anyone out there who hasn't received some type of emotional wounding. John Eldredge, the author of "The Sacred Romance", asserts that you cannot experience true joy and love without also encountering pain and suffering. Think about the people who are closest to you versus Joe Schmoe out on the street - the people we let into our inner most circle are the ones who will bring us the most joy as well as the possibility of the most pain. It's highly unlikely that we would gain the same amount of joy/pain from Joe Schmoe as from the people we love most dearly.

I would say that I would have to agree with Eldredge's assertion, and yet in light of this knowledge, most of the time I fear suffering and scorn the pain that my heart feels. I find myself desperately trying to numb the raw emotions of my heart, and yet in my head I know that to deny myself the experience of pain and suffering is to also deny the reality of the immense joy and love found in sharing life with those around me. It seems as though there may be only two roads to traverse - the first would be living alive to and aware of the pain and suffering that inevitably comes with life's greatest experiences, and the second, to harden my heart in order to protect myself from this pain and suffering (as well as joy and love). Sometimes I find myself believing that the latter road is much easier, less dangerous and maybe even safe. But then the Truth shatters the deceit of this illusion revealing that this second road is where my heart will slowly die - alone, cold, hard and devoid of all true love, joy and happiness. In light of this revelation, I would say that traveling the former road is comparably much more appealing than the latter.

Getting back to the quote from Manning, it's comforting to know that my suffering and pain is a part of the redemptive work of Christ in my life. He hasn't left me here to try and figure this out all on my own, but He has given me the Holy Spirit, by whom His love is poured out into my heart. I can't say that I fully understand how all of this works, but I am reminded that being a co-heir with Christ means that I will share in His sufferings, and yet this is so incredibly minute compared to the incomprehensible glory of God that will be revealed in my life.