The sacred ground of suffering
Child abuse — sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse — is devastating. We do not leave it behind when we stagger into adulthood. It comes with us, hanging on in every possible way. It colors how we think, how we act, what we believe.
But this is not the whole story, is it? While we are so aware of the downward forces, the heavy weight of abuse, we are also aware of another force, one that seeks to push back with equal and even greater measure.
We may bristle at the idea of God, especially an Almighty One, an All-Loving One. We’re more apt to throw rocks. But a suffering One? One with scars in hands and feet? One who walks with us to the Cross and bids us climb?
Welcome.
This was the God I met very early in my life. I was five, and I was suffering (see About Me). Every day I passed a crucifix hanging on a wall in a hallway. Who was this man? How could he be called God? Why was he suffering, too?
A flame was lit within me. It was just one of hundreds that God would ignite in the decades that followed. I didn’t connect many of these flames with God, because I hadn’t yet learned how to see. We are not taught how to see God.
With every flame, God deposited a seed within me. Because it was of God, these seeds were powerful then. They protected, comforted, strengthened. They remain powerful. It is up to me to participate with God to bring them to full flower.
It is up to you, too. We are, after all, standing on holy ground.
“… remove thy sandals from thy feet, for this is holy ground …”
— Exodus 3:5
Suffering may be an inevitable part of our lives, but it is far from barren, far from fruitless, far from meaningless. Suffering is, indeed, sacred ground, for it is where we meet God.
Why make this Pact?
Too many of us allow suffering to put a distance between us and God;
Too many of us miss seeing God at work in that suffering;
Too many of us do not hear the invitation from God to participate with God to use that suffering to grow ourselves and the world around us.
How do I take the Pact?
Return here daily, weekly to consider, reflect, and pray;
Recognize, identify, and relate with the God who works with suffering to empower and transform;
Honor your questions and doubts about the images of God prevalent in our culture;
Nurture the ability to see, to hear, and to participate with God.