Hi there. The last couple of years have been supremely challenging for me as well, and from the things you're writing, I think we have that in common. I'm an Orthodox Christian as well. The last couple years have been absolute hell in many ways, but... as I've been trying to write and such, I felt a strong sense - so strong that I assume it's God trying to tell me something - that the way I make it through this without being destroyed by it is through gratitude, and as a result, as part of my blogging, I've had a "Sunday Gratitude" thing going for probably a year now. It still feels weird and awkward because I'm not trying to use it as a platform to "flex", as the kids say these days, but just to keep the proper perspective that as bad as things are, and as much as some weeks I don't appreciate the exercise at all, God continues to be with us and there's always good and beauty to behold. I do get normal comments too, but I've gotten a few from people just saying that they like the Sunday gratitude posts because it helps them to remember to be grateful as well.
Hey! It's funny--things that express these sentiments keep coming through my feed: be grateful, give thanks, suffering is for a higher good. I guess the algos know what I need to hear.
I'm sorry to hear you're going through it, but then, maybe not? It seems that these trials are blessings. We hate them. They hurt. They don't fit in with our ideas of good, true, and beautiful, but here they are. Depending on where I reckon the start of them for me, it's somewhere between five years or five months. Wherever they began, I'm beginning to see the wisdom in it and am thankful. I hope and pray for the same for you.
Even in the New Testament, there's very much the image that when we suffer as we strive toward God, He's able to take that brokenness and transform us if we let Him. They still are terrible things, but the suffering isn't for naught. I've pretty much lost my train of thought past that - my 3-year-old is in the bath and her 7-year-old sister came in and stayed awhile to whine that their older brother won't give her a turn on the computer... That and getting kids to school and trying to solve any number of types of everyday disasters and not lose my sanity... At the same time, not forgetting to reach for something higher as well.
Damn, Hoss. That was beautiful!
You got me. It got all dusty in here with that boat ride.
Still gets me too.
Hi there. The last couple of years have been supremely challenging for me as well, and from the things you're writing, I think we have that in common. I'm an Orthodox Christian as well. The last couple years have been absolute hell in many ways, but... as I've been trying to write and such, I felt a strong sense - so strong that I assume it's God trying to tell me something - that the way I make it through this without being destroyed by it is through gratitude, and as a result, as part of my blogging, I've had a "Sunday Gratitude" thing going for probably a year now. It still feels weird and awkward because I'm not trying to use it as a platform to "flex", as the kids say these days, but just to keep the proper perspective that as bad as things are, and as much as some weeks I don't appreciate the exercise at all, God continues to be with us and there's always good and beauty to behold. I do get normal comments too, but I've gotten a few from people just saying that they like the Sunday gratitude posts because it helps them to remember to be grateful as well.
Hey! It's funny--things that express these sentiments keep coming through my feed: be grateful, give thanks, suffering is for a higher good. I guess the algos know what I need to hear.
I'm sorry to hear you're going through it, but then, maybe not? It seems that these trials are blessings. We hate them. They hurt. They don't fit in with our ideas of good, true, and beautiful, but here they are. Depending on where I reckon the start of them for me, it's somewhere between five years or five months. Wherever they began, I'm beginning to see the wisdom in it and am thankful. I hope and pray for the same for you.
Even in the New Testament, there's very much the image that when we suffer as we strive toward God, He's able to take that brokenness and transform us if we let Him. They still are terrible things, but the suffering isn't for naught. I've pretty much lost my train of thought past that - my 3-year-old is in the bath and her 7-year-old sister came in and stayed awhile to whine that their older brother won't give her a turn on the computer... That and getting kids to school and trying to solve any number of types of everyday disasters and not lose my sanity... At the same time, not forgetting to reach for something higher as well.
Nice to "meet" you. :)