Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Such pain as you describe is a fiery furnace, yet it can become a purification if you endure it with thanksgiving. The body groans, but do not let your soul groan in complaint. Consider that sleepless nights are not wasted when they become a vigil of prayer. While others lie awake from gluttony and surfeit, you lie awake from suffering; turn your bed into an altar and your tears into an offering. The weakness of the flesh is not a sign of God's absence, but a mirror of our common frailty, a frailty He allowed to humble us and draw us to Himself.
Do not measure your worth by what your hands can do, but by the disposition of your heart. If you can do almost nothing, then do that little with great love, and it will outweigh the mighty works of the healthy who boast in their strength. Talk to God about your own faults, not the faults of others, and this very weakness will become your advantage. Confess your helplessness before Him, and He who forgave David's iniquity will give you rest in your soul, even if sleep flees from your eyes.
Remember that faith requires a generous soul, one that rises above the senses. Your body cries out for comfort, but let your spirit mount higher. You are not alone in the watches of the night, the Lord Himself knew sleepless agony in Gethsemane. Join your wakefulness to His, and it will bear fruit you cannot now see. Do not seek chiefly to be rid of the pain, but to be made holy through it. For the world says luxury gives pleasure, but its pleasure ends in headache and deathlike sleep; your affliction, borne in Christ, leads to an eternal weight of glory.
Do not measure your worth by what your hands can do, but by the disposition of your heart. If you can do almost nothing, then do that little with great love, and it will outweigh the mighty works of the healthy who boast in their strength. Talk to God about your own faults, not the faults of others, and this very weakness will become your advantage. Confess your helplessness before Him, and He who forgave David's iniquity will give you rest in your soul, even if sleep flees from your eyes.
Remember that faith requires a generous soul, one that rises above the senses. Your body cries out for comfort, but let your spirit mount higher. You are not alone in the watches of the night, the Lord Himself knew sleepless agony in Gethsemane. Join your wakefulness to His, and it will bear fruit you cannot now see. Do not seek chiefly to be rid of the pain, but to be made holy through it. For the world says luxury gives pleasure, but its pleasure ends in headache and deathlike sleep; your affliction, borne in Christ, leads to an eternal weight of glory.
