Imagine arriving home at day’s end to find greasy black liquid spreading across the counter, running down the cabinets onto the floor, and soaking into the hallway carpet. A backed-up kitchen sink on the middle floor of a forty-storied apartment building is neither peaceful nor relaxing. A quick call brought two men running down the […]
Category: suffering
Patrick O’Brian on the storms of life
The tempests of life don’t always surprise us. Some we’ve faced before, and we often see them coming. When that’s the case, it helps to remember the experience. There’s an episode in Patrick O’Brian’s The Wine-Dark Sea that features four common stages of a storm. Though no two trials are identical, these stages rang true for me. […]
Seven Things I’ve Learned About Death (from an ICU Nurse)
(1) Death is unnatural. It doesn’t feel right. When entering a room where there’s a body, nurses often turn on all the lights and the TV. Bodies were designed to host life. When the life goes elsewhere, its absence is felt. (2) None of us knows when our time will come , so let people […]
Seven Things I’ve Learned About Surviving a Child’s Suicide (from a Parent Who’s Been Through It)
(1) You never forget. “He’s everywhere I look. Sitting in that chair. Standing by the kitchen sink. Coming down the stairs. Watching television.” (2) You rage against God. “Why did you let this happen to our son? He was a great kid! We did our best to please you and raise him right — why […]
The wisdom in suffering
On the cover of The End of Suffering, by Scott Cairns, is a quote that goes like this: The extreme greatness of Christianity lies in the fact that it does not seek a supernatural remedy for suffering, but a supernatural use for it. — Simone Weil There’s an ocean of truth in that statement, and […]
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