“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Last year, in Australia and particularly on the East Coast of Australia, we experienced a period of unprecedented rain.
The rain was so unrelenting and so consistent – in fact – that our Government paid many Australians “disaster relief” payments to compensate them for the damage caused by the rain. These payments were so prolific in fact, that in our family, the joke was that inflation was rising to record levels because the Australian Government pays people every time it rains…
And I have been thinking about that rain because it reminds me of suffering…
You see, the rain itself is often inconvenient. A little (perhaps during the night when we are safely tucked away inside our nice warm homes) is acceptable to us. We are okay to hear the rain drizzling outside our window at night-time, so long as it is not heavy and does not cause too much damage. In fact, after a long hot day, we even welcome the rain in the evening to cool the place down.
But when the rain is heavy and consistent, when it interferes with my life, when the rain means that I cannot host my barbeque party outside, or my children cannot go to the beach – when it means we are stuck inside all day and night – well, that is when I start to complain. Then, during the inconvenience of it all, I forget that the rain waters the garden and that we need rain, and remember only that there is mould on the walls.
And I have been reflecting on that because my experience with rain is pretty much the same as my experience with suffering. You see, I do not mind a little bit of suffering. I understand that suffering is good for my Eternal Salvation – it helps to purify me. And so, I can offer a little tiny sacrifice. I could say, I will pray the Divine Mercy today. After all, it is not too long of a prayer and does not really inconvenience me very much at all. And so, I can comfortably offer that little sacrifice. But the problem is that a little sacrifice like is like a little drizzle of rain – it does not do much to water the garden.
Instead, what I should really be able to welcome is the big suffering – the big sacrifices… These are the hopes and dreams and plans for my life that cannot come to fruition because God does not allow it. These are the tragedies that befall me, where loved ones die very young, and families suffer. These are the sufferings that are like the downpour of rain that does not seem to end.
And the important thing about suffering like this, is that like the rain, it waters the garden. But in the case of suffering, the garden it waters is the ETERNAL one. And this is why the greater the suffering in this life, the greater the glory in the garden of Paradise.
And I have been thinking about that today, as I reflect on my eternal salvation. For my Beloved sends me suffering, so that – like rain – my eternal garden will be well watered. And when I think about it like that, I cannot see why there is any reason for me to begrudge a bit of suffering now – for the eternal reward in the Garden of Heaven will be so magnificent that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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