Feb. 25, 2010
 
DEVOTION: To Love is to Suffer
 
By Beth Bondurant
 
God permits pain to affect our relationship to one another.
 
Love keeps on keeping on... yet is able to stand back... leave space and even let go.
 
Love bears one another's burdens... identifying with... suffering for... seeking healing.
 
Learning how best to "love God and love one another" without taking control and taking away another's freedom can be a painful process.
 
When our children begin to reach out beyond the areas of our perceived safety, to love is to suffer.
 
When God's unconditional love and grace encompasses those outside our learned circle of acceptance, to love is to suffer.
 
When truth squelches the shalom of another by rejection, judgement or renunciation, to love is to suffer.
 
"When I was hungry, you fed me.
         When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.
                 When I was homeless, you gave me a room.
                         When I was shivering, you gave me clothes.
                                 When I was sick, you stopped to visit.
                                         When I was in prison, you came to me."
 
Love is the essence of our faith... yet to love is to suffer.
 
Permit God's love to envelope your heart, mind, body and spirit... so the shadow of suffering love brings redemption and restoration within and without.