We are meant to suffer. Not in our ideal nature, but in our fallen nature. It teaches us virtue. Watch sometime the movie Shadowlands with this theme, centering on CS Lewis.
It was supposed to snow today in my neck of the woods here in Oklahoma. I eagerly watched the weather all day in anticipation. It would have meant a joyful occasion exposing our German shepherd puppy to the snow. But my anticipation of that pleasure resulted in the pain of loss, of disappointment.
But this is good. Accepting and offering up our daily sacrifices builds virtue, especially fortitude. It turns today’s soft, spineless jellyfish postmodern hedonist into a mature, strong, perseverant soul.
So I’m even more glad it didn’t snow today because that only made me stronger. Yet I know weather in Oklahoma. One day sunshine, the next day a blizzard We Okies will get our heavy snowfall soon enough.