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Poem
Words fashion empty glasses,
thirst cries out into the night.
Be silent awhile, then be startled,
while fresh wine runs down the sky.
Quietness watches over sorrow,
preparing in you a place to receive.
Language is the dark veil, behind
it hides your longing for lost Love.
*Brian K. Wilcox, "Quietness Watching," April 2001
Scripture
While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.
*Hebrews 5.7-9 (NLT)
Comments
Suffering has a sure way of confirming our powerlessness. Paradoxically, by acceptance of this confirmation, we find spiritual sustenance. Through acceptance, in humility, there is a place to receive. This life-giving drink we were unable to receive, until pain pierced a whole in the illusion of independence and its insubstantial defense, pride, that had shut us off from the enabling and joy of Grace.
Generally, the more we talk about our suffering the more real and magnified it becomes. I find this the case in my life. I am talking to someone of a frustration, I get more upset, the suffering becomes more vivid, and the matter is magnified out of real proportion.
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How can I claim surrender to Divine Providence, if I complain of the inconvenience of even normal pains of living? That complainer is the old self, buried in baptism, but still wanting, even demanding, individual right to be treated special and not be asked, by persons or God, to endure hardship in true love.
The person we are in Christ, risen from the waters of baptism, through the virtue of humility says, "Yes, for you, Christ, who suffered so much for me, I am willing to endure. I only ask that I not lose your joy and that I not be left to my own fleshly feebleness."
When we are willing to express our powerlessness, that is a defense against the greedy passions of the old man or woman we were when outside Christ. When we do not resist the hardship God has allowed us, we shall receive Grace Amazing and find joy in all things. We shall, like Christ our inspiration and example, learn the joy of obedience through the designs within suffering.
Suggested Spiritual Exercise
Place yourself in a bodily posture that communicates to you humble surrender. Pray to the Holy Spirit to enable you willingly and gladly to suffer any hardship God might allow in your life. Let your posture and prayer be an admission of your old self's resistance to doing this and your awareness that you cannot do it without this gift of virtuous suffering being given by the Spirit of Christ.
See next page for details on OneLife Ministries, Brian's book An Ache for Union, and material pertaining to sources used in the writing.
Feel free to submit a query on how OneLife Ministries can better serve you. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
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