Consider it all joy

It's not always easy. We know we're supposed to rejoice in our sufferings, yet when we're in the midst of them, they just hurt. Plain and simple.

One of the readings for Mass today is from James, and we are told:

My brethren, consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. But let perseverance be perfected, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I don't usually want to be perfect at the moment in which God is at work ... the chipping, shaping and sculpting He's doing hurts when He's in the middle of it, and I rather want to cry out, "Is this the only way? Couldn't you recommend a good book or something?"

And yet, in retrospect, I can always see that the things He chipped at and tossed out needed to go. Getting rid of them was for my good. Then the gratitude flows. I knew that, yes, when He was busy pounding on me, but it was hard to feel it. The feeling often comes later, when the pain has passed and the mind can reflect on the results of change.

Yet another grace and another mercy is that the more He has chipped away, the more we begin to welcome the process. Not that I like to be in pain, mind you, but over the years I've had a transformation in my view of suffering. I still dread it and dislike it. But, on another level, I welcome the process because I recognize it as God's active work in my life. He has either sent it or allowed it, and either way, it will be for my good. That much is assured.

Spiritual growing pains. Consider them joy.