Musings On Endurance

One could think of "suffering" as the experience of pain without hope. Such pain is hard (impossible?) to bear. However, with hope, the experience of pain becomes endurance—waiting it out, holding fast. If one has a reason to endure the pain (whatever it is), then perhaps the pain itself becomes more bearable.

Lack of control seems essential to pain, which is unendurable if one has no hope of Another in control, a light at the end of the tunnel. Prayer is a giving up of the need for control, which is not to make the pain go away, but to acknowledge it more truly. Prayer made in light of sure hope is the best way to endure pain. Such hopeful prayer is the vehicle of trust in, intimacy with, and gratitude toward the One who gently superintends all our pain.