Suffering's Chalice ~ E ... Altruism
Soul Snack 115/14 ... Have you repeatedly sung the song, hummed the tune or wailed within - it's not fair?
Have you bellowed from mountain-tops while sinking in valleys - how long?
The unseen, the unspoken and the ungrasped nature of suffering stains the soul with injustice, it feeds the spirit with sorrow while soaking the body in tears.
Has suffering finally released you, and in hindsight no explanation revealed?
YET even amidst the destroying absence of rhyme or reason, you have remained faithful. You have not fled, hit out or worse still - brought accusations against God.
The story is told of a mother bear that nursed her cubs alone during a fierce winter.
Her chocolate-brown back faced the elements to block the cave's entrance and shield her cubs. Snowflakes dotted her spine as dandruff, while icy gales blasted the fur, but she steadfastly refused to budge.
The winter was long and the cave mouth very cold. She nestled her cubs, fed them a few morsels and roared at would-be predators. Her hibernation was her horror. Where was their father?
Dad had been drawn away by wolves as the winter skies darkened and the nights lengthened. Mother bear was left behind to find the last cave and herd her cubs in.
The father bear exhausted from the flight and wounded from the fight, lay motionless under a snow-laden fir tree. His life was ebbing out and the wolf pack knew it.
Back at the cave mother bear blamed him for the absence of food, and she groaned for her cubs well-being. Mom lamented the bitter winter and charged the father bear for her suffering, not knowing her suffering that winter was for the next generation which now had no father. She could not know that one cub, when mature, would father the new leader of their sleuth.
Today's pain may well be for a future benefit to you, or even an unseen generation well beyond your mortal coil.
The righteous perish,
and no one takes it to heart;
the devout are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil. (Isaiah 57:1)
Today's Soul Snippet:
Hunger in the body creates hunger in the soul. A hungry soul is one seeking health.
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ENJOY SUFFERING'S CHALICE ~ D ... RECIPROCITY
COMING on Monday Suffering's PostScript