Pain and Beauty

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Have you ever noticed how a thin layer of ice can turn the most ordinary objects into other worldly examples of beauty? Yes, sadly, it’s true – southern Ontario has only just recently joined the rest of North America now firmly in the grip of winter. Monday’s ice storm may have burst our glorious little pocket of global warming but it also left an unpredictable layer of magic around each corner as it lights up trees and power lines and fence posts.

Here’s something to consider, however, about the beautiful scenes it provides. The very same thing which makes this picture beautiful, also killed more than 70 people along the way (according to the latest news reports). And such is the mixture of things – there is pain in beauty and sometimes beauty in pain. What is a boon to some is the end of all boons to another. And on the very same day, a bride can be praying for clear skies on her wedding and a farmer begging for storm clouds to feed dry fields. One will be elated at the other’s tragedy.

We know there are things which are beautiful and things which are painful, but we struggle to come to terms with things that are both. As an example, I spent years in an employment situation which did little more than gnaw at my insides on a daily basis. In fact, the only thing which kept me going was a stubborn refusal to quit without some sense of breakthrough or a some grand lesson learned. Eventually, I had to realize that life simply wasn’t long enough to spend a lot of time “peeing into hurricane force winds”. So I quit without a pronounced sense of either. It wasn’t until years after the fact that I began to see some of the beauty in what had occurred and the new kind of person the pain made possible. It doesn’t mean the pain wasn’t painful – it just means I was able to turn it into something else.

In The Problem of Pain, CS Lewis said pain shatters the illusion that all is well and “plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.” Pain is feedback, it’s truth attempting to gnaw through the layers of stuff we’ve told ourselves instead. Every time you step on a sprained ankle, it shouts a desperate truth through your nerve endings, “Something is not right.” And even if that pain tell is just the truth that our lives will end, this world is not our friend and we were meant for something more – even in this regard, it can be beautiful in the end if we let us tell us it’s truth.

What is pain telling you? What could it tell you if you let it?

This Sunday we’re continuing our series “Deep Questions, Messy Answers” with a slight change to the order (you can visit our website or tune into our podcast.) The question, “Is Jesus Christ the only way?” was submitted this week as a follow up to last week’s teaching and I think it would be good to address them back-to-back. Remember, it’s not too late to submit your questions about God, life or other things that come to mind (hit reply).

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you,

CSW

REMOTE CONTROL PULPIT
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

LAST SUNDAY
Heaven, hell and the good people from other religions. You can visit our website or tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
One last look from a slightly different angle, "Is Jesus Christ the only 'way'?"

CD's AND DVD's
The first batch of CD's and DVD's will be avaible mid way through the series and the second at the end of the series.