Physical Pain

Physical pain is something that everyone will have to go through in life. Some start their suffering young and others, in their later years. It is human nature to dislike suffering but is it all that meaningless? I'm still trying to embrace physical pain and go without painkillers but when the pain hits, I throw up and my body shivers, my mind goes blank and all I hope for is for the pain to go away. 

But I do know the preciousness of pain and suffering. 

It humbles a person.

No matter how rich a person is or how successful, when he is in pain, he is weak and vulnerable and has that nagging pain as the common ground with everyone else. He knows he is human and needs help. He becomes reliant on other people and things like doctors and medication or even a family member by his side. He becomes aware of his limitations and inabilities when he hits his threshold for pain and realises there are things in this world he cannot withstand. He becomes more compassionate towards others if he remembers his sufferings following his recovery. He becomes appreciative of every other moment he does not feel the pain and of the people who cares for him. However, these are not possible if he does not look deeper inside of him and simply let this experience pass him by. 

It connects us to God.

God in His goodness sent His son to die for us. As a father looking down upon the suffering son, the emotional pain extends beyond any physical pain. And for Jesus who took the rap for us sinners, He went through intense physical sufferings throughout the entire persecution and crucifixion. Our sufferings unite us with the suffering Jesus. In our sufferings, we remember Jesus's sufferings and we get a taste of what He felt. We establish that common ground with this otherwise abstract person, knowing He was human just like us. Like how His pains were a ransom for our souls, so can we inject a purpose to ours. We can, as we experience the pain, offer it up for a particular intention, and in our embracing our "crosses", we pay a ransom for someone else. 

While it is humanly impossible to embrace what the human nature naturally detests, we can pray for strength, courage and obedience to carry our crosses each day with the acceptance that God wills it as a platform for us to grow stronger and humbler, and to learn to think of others selflessly even while we're most in need. 

4 July 2010

1.34am