...What Needless Pain We Bear

Emie felt like crying, he wanted to shout, he wanted to vanish, to cease to exist. Life no longer made any sense to him. The past successes and joys were all in the past. His present state was a mess. He could not pay his bills anymore, and could not afford three meals daily. He'd been fired from work and could not get another job soon enough. Emie could not even pray anymore, in fact, prayer was the very last option for him. Ironically, however, he was so good at counseling others who had problems, but could not counsel himself or even go to another counselor.

Emie continued in that ugly and seemingly hopeless state of his life for some weeks. Had he no friends? Of course, he did, but they had all vanished at a time when he needed them most. The thought of this saddened him even more, for he had never thought that he would ever be deserted by his friends. He remembered his closest friend, Vince, whom he was always there to help; someone for whom he cared so much. Vince had stopped taking Emie's calls. He would not even call back. What a friend?

What a friend? What a friend? What a...

Emie kept pondering, and repeating to himself, "What a friend?", then he started singing:

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear –

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

At first Emie sang the song thinking about his friends and their attitude towards him, but gradually, the words seeped in. The song started making some sense. Oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer, Emie thought. Never in any of those weeks of agony did he think of Jesus.

Emie sang again, this time with some prayerful resolution as he knelt before the large crucifix in his church. This place was not strange to him. He knew the arrangement of the tiles, the stained glasses, the paintings, and the large altar, but the atmosphere was different this time. Emie felt some calm in his soul for the first time in weeks. He felt some assurance. He knew it was well. He felt encouraged to fight on. ALL BECAUSE HE CARRIED EVERYTHING TO GOD IN PRAYER.

LESSON

Pain and suffering, from the time of The Fall, have been part of the fallen nature of man. Ironically, however, man wants to be happy, to enjoy a painless and pleasure-filled life, but these troubles are sure to come at some point in our lives. How do we deal with them? Do we try to find some escape route? Do we bear them to God in prayer?

Obviously, the raging wind of troubles and worries of life may seem to leave us with little or no room to think of Jesus. The life of Emie is an example of such a situation. Let us not give up so easily or try to solve our problems all by ourselves. Jesus is always there to help, and will always help. All we need do is go to him in prayer, and in the faith that through the blood of Christ our Saviour all will be well.

PRAYER

Dearest Jesus, who bore all our pain with the weight of the cross, give us the grace to carry our crosses and follow you. Help us to trust in you when things go wrong, and lighten our burden that we be not weighed down by the cares of this life.

 

FOR OUR REFLECTION

1 Samuel Ch. 1

John 14:13-14