This reading made me think about our discussion in class today. About God existing despite the evil and sorrow in the world. How can this be? There is a sentence here that says that "if he afflicts her, she suffers patiently, and her love for him only grows." It's something I don't really understand. If I were afflicted, I doubt if I would love the person who harmed me even more. Unless of course it was for my good. Like- my tooth was getting work on it, because it had a cavity. But even then, I rarely fall in love with my dentist.
There was a point made in class today about how we can't really appreciate the good without the evil being present. And then it was rebutted that we just wouldn't know any different, but would instead feel the good all the time. But what about being able to appreciate the good without the evil anyways? For example, if we are outside in our California heat, sometimes it is unbearable. And then a wind blows. We know that it is good. And we appreciate it. Or a baby's cry isn't evil, but just a way of saying "Feed Me" or "Love Me" or "Hold Me", but despite it NOT being evil, we are made to appreciate when the baby laughs.
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You said something interesting to me. “If I were afflicted, I doubt if I would love the person who harmed me even more. Unless of course it was for my good.” Beautiful things can come from suffering…but we have to stop being angry and open our eyes first. It can be very difficult to have faith when you’re in the midst of grief and pain. I completely understand why people feel that God does not exist because I didn’t believe He did until I was about 16 years old. I experienced a lot of pain as a child and always found myself asking, “How can there be a God?” I eventually reached a point where one day I stopped asking, “Why are you making me suffer?” and I began asking myself, “Why am I making myself suffer? What can I do to stop my suffering? What am I supposed to learn?” The moment I began taking responsibility for my own life, things got better. I think we need to stop blaming God for everything and start asking ourselves what WE can do to help ourselves and each other. I don’t think God is a white horse that is going to come and rescue us. I think we need to rescue ourselves. The solution to a problem is often quite simple if we would only sit down, shut up, and breathe. I realize that there are situations where things are out of our control (i.e. a rape, a kid with cancer, etc.) but we are still in control of how we respond to those situations. Whether we believe in God or not, suffering is a part of life. We can either choose to be angry and bitter and miserable or choose to keep breathing, learn something, and carry on with our lives. We’re going to be around for 80 years anyway…we might as well make the best of every situation.
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