The Pathway to Healing: Part 1

Beauty & Suffering

In the book of Genesis (which means; “in the beginning” & is the first book in the Holy Bible), we read of God masterfully orchestrating the events of the creation of the cosmos & every living thing in it, including human beings whom He created in His image. God saw everything He created & declared it good. Through His limitless Divine Love & Grace for all of creation, God gave humans everything they needed in order to live a whole, blessed flourishing life, reflecting His image in which they were created. However, in spite of God’s gracious Agape love & grace poured out for His creation, we read that the humans transgressed away from the beauty & perfection intended by God our Creator. Their transgressions led them, in every lifetime from that point forward, to the origin of difficulties which defined life as containing both beauty & suffering, & the need for human interdependence. Though the intended divinely blessed flourishing life created by God from the beginning of time was marked by both beauty & suffering, God our gracious Creator has always been steadfast in His love for all of creation & has never & will never abandon the world. Beauty, healing & wholeness for His creative order has always been, & always will be God’s will for His creation.

From the beginning of time, humans were created by God as three-dimensional beings composed of body, mind & spirit. Each dimension though often overlapping, experiences both beauty & suffering in somewhat different ways. All suffering in life regardless of what form it takes, keeps us in the shadows of the light that shines from God & thus dims our view of life at that time. When we are suffering from physical illness or challenges, we feel physical pain, fear of the future, frustration due to physical limitations & often general feelings of weakness, & fear of death, to name just a few. When we view ourselves as weak, we need some help in order to heal. When we are suffering from mental or emotional issues, we feel deep emotions such as depression, despair, anger, sadness, immobility, resignation, feelings of defeat, regret, confusion & brokenness to name just a few. When we feel broken, we need help to be fixed in some way in order to be whole again. And when we are suffering from Spiritual unrest, we often feel unbalanced, empty, alone, afraid, lost, abandoned, unfocused, unloved, spiritually bankrupt & hopeless, to name just a few. When we feel hopeless, we need Spiritual feeding in order to feel whole again. God did not create us to suffer. He intended for us to flourish in the light & beauty of life given. Since we are created in the image of God called to reflect His light outward, it is as important for us to nurture our spirit as it is to nurture our bodies & our minds. 

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Pastoral Care Minister with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy