S
uffering, our Lord tells us, is indispensable for spiritual growth. We are called to share in His cross, to unite our sufferings with His, and learn to detach ourselves from the love of worldly comforts. When you're healthy, it's easy to think: "I could handle all sorts of sufferings! Man, if I were sick or hurt right now, I'd bear it so well! I'd be getting so close to the Lord!" Then you get sick; not even that sick, just achey and tired, and the first thing you do is reach for the ibuprofen so you can feel sort of normal again.
We just watched Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, which takes place on the particularly brutal WWII battleground of Guadalcanal. I saw a comment that said it was a movie about war more than it was a war movie. The reactions of the various characters to war, the selves that they have to face, are striking. It's so easy to paint a rosy picture for yourself, here in the times of endless peace, where you'd be brave, you'd endure suffering, you'd accept death in the face of incredible violence. It's almost certainly bullshit. I can't even handle a 24-hour bug keeping me from sleeping.