Life is suffering?
I flicked through the pages of The Star this week, and if I’m honest, my heart sank. I was confronted with stories of conflict, disagreement, murder, and child abuse. Accounts of people’s evil behaviour are printed alongside a mixture of positive stories from our region, of success, business growth, of people’s potential.
It is an honest reflection of life. A newspaper that only printed good news stories wouldn’t be telling the whole truth. The philosopher Nietzsche said “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”
The Bible doesn’t shy away from this reality, but promises that we can know God’s presence and hope in the midst of trials.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you” (Isaiah 43).
I had a surprising conversation this week with the head of a small local youth wellbeing charity called Golddigger Trust. They work on the frontline seeking to make a difference in people’s darkest days. Most nights a trained team member will be available in the Childrens’ Hospital A&E department. Like chaplains, they come alongside the shocked and frightened families of teenagers who have self-harmed or attempted suicide.
It is a sad reality of the great need in our city. Self-hatred blights young people’s outlook on life, reflecting a lack of hope that things could change. Our A&E departments are a microcosm of the economic and societal needs, and also the city’s spiritual needs.
In those moments of despair and confusion, Golddigger Trust believe in unearthing the inherent value within every child. They will sit and listen to a person’s story, seeking to sow seeds of hope in the hardest of nights. It is an extraordinary free service to offer our city. It reminded that in the Bible St. Paul urges us to “Bear one another's burdens.” (Gal. 6:2)
The pages of today’s paper will remind us that life is suffering, but at the same time, life is beautiful and hopeful. The difference comes, I believe, when people make time or capacity to be kind and reach out to one another, even when the pressure is on.
Why not make it your goal to be a good-news story to somebody today?