We wish for an easy, happy life. At least I do. But reality is not like that. In everyone’s life you’ll find hard things, stuff that is not easy to bear. And the truth is: suffering is part of our everyday life. But still I pray “Please take this away, Lord.” And I find myself in good company: Jesus prayed the same in the garden of Gethsemane. (Mark 14:36).
The difference, though, is that Jesus doesn’t stay there focusing on his suffering. He sees the joy that comes afterwards and so he prays “Not what I will, but what you will.”
There is no resurrection without the suffering in the garden, the torture, the ridicule and the death on the cross.
And there is joy after sorrow.
There is life after death.
Still I often stay with that in my life – all that is hard, that makes me want to weep. But I want to imitate Christ and pray with him: “thy will be done” – and go through my own suffering, expecting the resurrection on the other side.
May you know that those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy and join your suffering to that of Christ, so that you might experience the resurrection anew this Easter and always.
This reflection was first published in The Lovely Commission, at https://www.kairos-eme.org/tlc.
See other Scripture Reflections from The Lovely Commission:
- See, I am doing a new thing! – Isaiah 43:16-21, by Pearl Mathias
- Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy – Psalm 126, by Anna Weber
- All Creation Yearns for Harmony with Its Creator, by Eilidh Graham
- Let Us Fully Worship the Lord with Reckless Abandon as Mary Did, by Hannah Clarke
Top image: Photo of woman standing in a field waiting for sunset, from Bigstock.com, © by Otna Ydur, stock photo ID: 5824100
Anna Weber and her husband Andy are members of Bread of Life Community, located in the Munich area of Germany.