On beauty and suffering

A blogger I follow recently wrote an excellent and eloquent entry on beauty and suffering. She begins by reflecting on a poem about a trapped bird that is able to make a song of beauty out of his pained state. From there she reflects on the relationship between suffering and the “art of life,” drawing in particular from people she has known and art she has encountered.

I heartily encourage you to read the post in its entirety. But here are a few words that I wanted to share with you today:

Suffering can’t be avoided, and it is indeed repulsive -- it is a result of the Fall -– but it won’t drown us if we step into it in faith and make something of it, something of beauty that touches the lives of all who experience it and reminds them that joy and triumph are realities, too, even within the suffering itself.

The cage of circumstance cannot be torn away; we cannot liberate ourselves from suffering. But we can – by God’s grace – be liberated from the prison of the self when we decide to create a psalm of praise.