A New Day

Yesterday presented great challenges for me to see beauty in my suffering. And as the sun is just beginning to rise here in Nashville, I welcome a chance to hope for a brighter day. A great friend and my sister Clare challenged me yesterday to pick up my cross, thank God for it and ask Him to place it squarely on my shoulders. But the challenge lies  in not just carrying it, but carry it with love. To truly see the beauty in it, to see it as a gift from God. And that requires great grace, which is something that is never earned, but simply given to us by an all-loving Father.

Suffering is a mystery. And one will never fully comprehend it until Heaven. I was blessed three years ago to spend a summer in Kolkata, India serving with the Missionaries of Charity, the order of Sisters started by Blessed Mother Teresa. While there I read a great deal about Mother Teresa by her tomb. One particular quote from her became one of my favorites – Mother said, “Suffering is nothing but the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close that He can kiss you. Suffering is a gift from God.”

Such purity and beauty radiating from the lips of a saint. A woman that now beholds the beatific vision for all eternity. And how can I not strive to see beauty in suffering with such a beautiful example from one of my favorite saints?