Confirmation

Someone I loved once gave me

a box full of darkness

It took me years to understand

That this, too, was a gift

This is one of the most powerful, profound and well written poems I have ever read. (Not that I have read many poems). This is my favorite poem out of all that we have read this year. It is short and precise, profound and intimate. I think because right now I feel as though I am in a season of suffering this poem spoke to me on a much deeper level. I wonder if those who are not in the Lord can look back and appreciate their times of suffering. As Christians we have SO MUCH HOPE knowing that everything we go through is being worked out to our benefit, and to something much greater- that being the glory of God. We know through faith and through scripture that everything happens to use for a reason. We know we are never alone. On an intellectual note, nothing bad ever really happens to us. Nothing bad can happen to us because we are looked after and cared for by a loving sovereign God who is in COMPLETE control at all times. I think often times we choose suffering because of our inability to see the entire picture. We do not have the capacity to understand what the Lord is doing. Everything that happens to us is a gift from God, although most often we don’t see it that way. That is where faith plays in. When we cannot see, we believe. We hold-strong to the promises the Lord has made and know that all things work together for the good of those who love him. Someone once told me “Nothing ever happens to us and no one ever touches our lives without God’s permission, under His control and with our best interest in His mind.” How could I get through suffering without that knowledge? I couldn’t.