Living in Joy While Standing in Poop

This post was originally published in January, 2014. 

As we wrap 2013, I can’t help but admit it was a crappy year. As a blogger and professional, things went well, but other than that? Financial problems hit us I don’t know how many times. And the kids? Oh man. I often feel like we are back to where we started. I have no hope on some days, and please don’t even ask me about this school year. It’s been hard, challenging, painful. And there has been PLENTY of unpleasant poop to deal with too –  literal poop, I mean.

And those are the things I can talk about; know that there is more.

But still, I feel…I don’t know. I feel GOOD, really good. I know that in my history I’ve had incidents where less than a fraction of the stuff we’ve been through in the last 12 months brought me nothing but agony. This year, though?

It’s ok. It’s all OK.

Then a friend shared this post about how God plans for some people NOT to have a wonderful life and it upset me. Not because there weren’t truthful aspects to this article about REAL Christian suffering (it focused on God’s plan for some of us to have to bear the visibly gut wrenching stuff) but because it was a dark and depressing take for believers who do suffer “things no one should have to.” It’s all about the painful part and how little  or no joy is meant in this life, but I disagree. I believe God means for  joy to be in our earthly lives.

You’re thinking I’m an optimist.  Maybe I am now, but not naturally. I spent many years of my life courting and loving angst and darkness. Ath the time, I foolishly believed it made me a better writer, just like other people think alcohol makes them a better writer. I’ve had LONG dark nights of the soul, I’ve battled all kinds of things in my innermost mind that I knew were off, even at the time. I’ve had depression, a brush with death, extreme fear, hypochondria. I’ve known listlessness and how pain can make you feel alive when you are dead inside. So calling me an “optimist” is way too easy.

I’ve come to understand things in 2013 that I would never have grasped in those earlier years. As I read that article about Christian suffering, I kept thinking about was the apostle Paul. This author of most of the New Testament letters never met Jesus while he was alive. He only encountered Christ years after He’d left this Earth. Still, Paul had visions that were so profoundly moving that nothing could take him off the path of faith in Christ, nothing could stop him from talking about “joy” – not prison, not being severely and regularly beaten (2 Cor. 11:23), not being shipwrecked, nothing.

And boy did he suffer! In 2 Cor. 1:8, he writes, “…we despaired even of life.” Some of Paul’s writing took place in prison, one in particular that, as I understand, also had some nasty issues. Picture a 2000 year old prison with several inches of toilet waste around your feet.

Crap! I mean, actual crap but Paul, instead, said, Joy!

Yes, Jesus did promise that if you are a Christian you will suffer in this life. Some will suffer what we think is more, some will seem to suffer less. Some people probably think I’m lucky, others probably pity me, and I can bounce between the two extremes myself on some days. But when the poop hits the fan around here, I know it’s for my good:

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. -Roman 8:2

Christians should cling to God’s promise that ALL WILL BE WELL. And I don’t mean you’ll be cured, or terrible things won’t happen to your kids, or you won’t lose your home or job. That terrible earthly garbage and more can and will happen. It will be more than you can handle, because God wants to make sure you are hanging onto HIM alone. But God’s promise to believers: that you are saved, that you can’t be lost and that the God who created EVERYTHING has something amazing waiting for you, is worth the joy of present suffering.

It’s sort of like poop that comes from a child’s dysfunctional gut issues. When I’m faced with the most toxic, smelly, rash-inducing poop from my darling daughter, I know that her system is detoxing. It’s awful and a bit frightening, but her body is cleansing itself from the bad stuff. Along with it might come nasty behaviors, too, but it’s cleansing the way for all good things ahead.

That’s bad enough, but the apostle Paul rejoiced while standing in other people’s crap. {shudder} Good grief, the stench! He must have been suffering other unpleasant stuff too. You’d get all kinds of nasty things standing in poop and piss from strangers all day: rashes, diarrhea, fleas. Sometimes my poor daughter gets extreme irritations – his skin must have been raw and nasty. He had that “thorn” in his side as well, some affliction – whatever that was, he struggled with it daily.

But the more you study his words, the more you can actually see Paul smiling when he writes of joy, because he knows this is God’s good will for him to fulfill his purpose. He knows this will sharpen him into the man God wants him to be. He knows that when it’s all over, the suffering will end for all time and be forgotten in an eternity of joy.

It’s God’s will that my kids are where they are. That we’ve had this financial difficulty. That the school year has been challenging, to say the least. That we are still dealing with toxic poop. That, plus all that “other stuff” is going on is His will too. It’s my job to find God’s will and do it, with all my choices as a parent, a wife, a woman, a writer, a Christian.

And it’s my choice to do it all in joy, just like Paul, even when I’m, well, pooped!

 

 

Originally published Jan 1, 2014.