Dreaming

image source: http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/98kool.com/files/2011/01/mlk.gif

I find hope and redemption in my suffering

Driving in the car today I had an opportunity to listen to my all-time favorite speech, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream." He delivered it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.  As I was listening I was moved by a few lines that felt particularly poignant to me that I had not paid attention to before.

"I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive." (italics added)

Although I am unable to understand what those experiences of injustice and racism were like during that time, I take inspiration for my own trials by how he viewed suffering and hope.  I have often thought that some of the circumstances of my life are unfair and it was if I was being battered by storms.

"Where is the justice?"
"Why me?" 

Some of my suffering comes at the hands of others who have hurt me.  It is also likely that I have caused others to suffer.  How do I respond to unearned suffering?  Do I see it as a doorway to bitterness, or a pathway to redemption?  Here is what Dr. King had to say:

"My personal trials have also taught me the value of unmerited suffering. As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways that I could respond to my situation: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course. Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation, which now obtains. I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive."

Martin Luther King Jr (1929 - 1968)

The creative force that he harnessed changed the course of history and affected millions of lives.  Although he suffered challenges and persecution he maintained hope.  Here is another excerpt from his speech: 

"...This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. [italics added] With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

What can I learn from the suffering in my life?  How can I find hope in even the most dire of circumstances?  Today I will see redemption in my suffering and hope in times of despair.