Faith Needs to Name the Truth: Life Sucks...It Can Be Hard

You know, it has been a bit rough lately. That is something we each seem to have a difficult time coming to grips with. Even after I wrote my book, the idea that naming the reality that life can be hard, and even sucks, is something many people seem to shy away from.  Like "good parents," we tried to shield our kids from it.  But life does suck often times and can be hard.  We are mortal and we cannot make a shield to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the reality.

But that doesn't mean I don't keep seeking joy and faith.  Each week, I spend time trying to listen to God intently regarding breath prayers. I’ve been doing it for over two years now which is kinda hard to believe really. Some weeks, those prayers drill down deeper and strike at the roots of my soul more than others. This week has been one of those for sure. Besides the fact that many of plans got thrown to the side when I got the stomach bug going around, I have been drawn, ever deeper, to consider and listen to God’s Spirit.

I know I have written mostly over the past few years from the view of a widow/widower because it has been most real. In some ways, I have claimed that as an identity. Many of us have. I think it is natural and good, even. Thanks to OneFitWidow and Grief Annonymous, and other such groups, it is being brought more and more to light, the realities of being in the widow club.

But we need to do more. Those who suffer and struggle most don’t have time to write, publish and speak. They can’t afford conference or books or even the time to read because they have joined the class of the working poor many times and are suddenly trying to provide for 1,2,3,4 or more dependents. Or they are dealing with something I learned about more recently, “Complicated Grief,” a grief that does not let go so easily and requires a gentler hand and in many cases, therapy, something our societies STILL stigmatize even as the impact and effects of social media are proving to alter how are young people function in society.


And so, we don’t hear God when God speaks. And why would we? We don’t know how. We are not taught in our churches anymore, not as a pattern of wholeness or way of life. We are taught spiritual practices as something to put on our daily task list alongside the laundry and changing the litter box. We get messages of going to war rooms for prayer rather than becoming peacemakers and servants.

As I have been inviting God to come near me and quiet my soul, I hear the call more and more to come away...the calling to return to the message Jesus gave to fishermen…”Come, follow me…” The road through the valley of suck does not lead to one destination. It leads wherever we choose to go and the voice or voices we choose to follow.