Suffering for what we need

Suffering for what we need - changing diapers

Making it fun, but a little unrelated

I remember early on in Matteo’s life he would cry over the silliest things (at least to me). One of the most evident silly things was having his diaper changed. Here was something that needed to happen for so many reasons and yet when he was first born, he would wail over it. He was crying and suffering through something he needed.

I think the reality in our life is that we often have to suffer for what we need. Some things are obvious like work, or schooling, but others we might not be as cognisant of are things like relationships, patience, and character. It is even more true when it comes to things of faith. Consistent prayer, trust, worship, fasting, Scripture reading, and more can be a real struggle, especially at first. We should be able to see the need, it should feel natural to us, but the sad reality is that they don’t.

Jesus himself suffered for something we fundamentally need. He did it through his birth, life, but especially his resurrection. He suffered to show us what God’s true love is. He suffered to take our place. He suffered so that he might show us what Godly leadership looks like and how his Kingdom will come. He suffered to reconcile us to God. He suffered to become the tree of eternal life in our midst and so much more that I am still learning.

Suffering has so much good in it and we really have to be open to how we need to suffer for what we need.

One interesting development: Matteo now, usually, loves our change table time. I have made it fun. We sing, we have games and so he rarely cries, because he can see some benefit of that time. The same thing can happen in our life too. The only hard part is just like Matteo we don’t often see the fullness of the benefit. He probably doesn’t understand half of what I am doing. That understanding will come, but it takes time.