The Art of Suffering

tonight i had the honor of hearing Rob Bell speak and my eyes have just been opened to the beauty and creativity that suffering seems to have. there is an art to the way that suffering effects our lives! michael angelo once said that david was in that boulder waiting to be found. sculpting isnt about what you can cram together. its about knowing what to chip away. havent you noticed that when you go through tragedies they have a way of opening your eyes to the things in life that are important and the things that should be chipped away. there is something brilliant inside of us that God has created that is waiting to be found, but in order to find those beautiful aspects of who we are we have to chip away the clutter! but along with finding the deeper parts of ourselves tragedy can be a way to see the deeper parts of the people around us. i mean if you were in a big group of people and were asked to stand up and see who all had been to hawaii, there wouldnt be much of a connection there but if you were asked to stand up if you had been directly effected by cancer that changes things a bit and suddenly you have a connection with every person that is standing in that room. you understand what they have been through because you have been through it too. and because of that beautiful connection that is made in suffering, it emphasizes the power of the cross. it furthers the connection we have with Christ because he has been there. he knows every type of suffering so in anything, you can rest assured you have a connection with the God of the Universe! and so yeah, i think there is a flawless beauty in suffering. everything that i am today that has made me who i am is a result of some sort of suffering ive gone through, and i am happier with who i am today than who i have been in the past. im sure you can agree with that, so obviously there is a mysterious beauty in tragedy. it kinda makes me crave it now....?