tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post1090897910584041182..comments2024-03-26T16:24:34.218+00:00Comments on Meeting The Masters: Suffering and HappinessWilliam Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-4643964033197680212018-01-05T10:16:13.727+00:002018-01-05T10:16:13.727+00:00Good quotes. Thanks for adding them.Good quotes. Thanks for adding them.William Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-3504232311221103052018-01-05T09:55:15.480+00:002018-01-05T09:55:15.480+00:00Some quotes to aid reflection.
“We are afflicted ...Some quotes to aid reflection.<br /><br />“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed”<br />2 Corinthians 4:8–9<br /><br />“through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God”<br />Acts 14:22<br /><br />“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”.<br />Galatians 6:2<br /><br />“This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”<br />2 Corinthians 4:17–18<br /><br />“comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”<br />2 Corinthians 1:4<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-6726656684921267072018-01-04T16:05:28.180+00:002018-01-04T16:05:28.180+00:00Thanks for your comment, Kirk. It might interest y...Thanks for your comment, Kirk. It might interest you to know that I too have sometimes tried to dodge the bullet. It takes a certain detachment to understand that sometimes the bullet is there to do you good. Not that that is a reason to seek suffering of itself because that would be the ego. Happiness is certainly better than suffering but it may not be so educational.William Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-11545717033958076862018-01-04T15:31:44.054+00:002018-01-04T15:31:44.054+00:00Excellent post, William. As always happens when I ...Excellent post, William. As always happens when I read your work, I had to pause several times and chew over the points you made.<br /><br />One thing I have become very aware of lately is that for most of my life, I have been unconsciously seeking to either avoid suffering or to convince myself that a particular situation really isn't suffering after all. But a liberating perspective I have recently begun to acquire is to actively, deliberately embrace suffering, both out of love for my Father and out of a desire to learn all I can in this life.<br /><br />My lifelong mistake was to expend countless emotional and spiritual calories in dodging, sidestepping, and avoiding suffering...and on the occasions when I couldn't avoid it, to call suffering something other than what it was.<br /><br />Suffering WILL come, especially to those who fervently desire to know God and to walk the path He would have us walk. To embrace is it liberating. The act of embracing does not lessen the pain of the suffering, but the perspective transforms it from an onerous burden into a holy act.<br /><br />Thank you again, so very much, for thinking so deeply and writing so generously.Kirk Forlatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08928612665374945858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-50778433759865833732018-01-02T22:55:17.745+00:002018-01-02T22:55:17.745+00:00There's nothing wrong with pleasure and enjoym...There's nothing wrong with pleasure and enjoyment when they come just as suffering is not good in itself. But if you seek worldly happiness above following the path of spiritual truth then you are on the wrong track. It's a question of where your priorities lie, in self or God.William Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-70123222577843952722018-01-02T22:44:27.389+00:002018-01-02T22:44:27.389+00:00"Real happiness lies not in pleasure and enjo..."Real happiness lies not in pleasure and enjoyment but listening to the word of God and doing his will."<br /><br />It seems as if you are saying that "pleasure and enjoyment" are something apart from God's will. I would say that true, or valid, "pleasure and enjoyment" are to be found in doing God's will.<br /><br />I found this short piece useful, on whether God wants me to be "happy or holy",<br /><br />https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-god-want-me-to-be-happy-or-holy<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com