The Patience of Job

So--if you went to Mass today, along with a lot of "And with your spirit"s (I'm starting to love hearing that), you heard this:

Job spoke, saying:  "Is not man's life on earth a drudgery?  Are not his days those of hirelings?  He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages.  So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been allotted to me.  If in bed I say, "when shall I arise?", then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.  My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope.  Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again".

Can you imagine a friend sharing something like that over coffee?  How would you respond?  Would you wonder why she was making those depressing statements or perhaps write her off as a complainer? 

A couple of things about Job:  First, in a past life, Job had everything good in life and was God's good and faithful servant.  Then, God allowed the devil to strip Job of all he had, little by little, until he was covered with sores and sitting on a dung heap.  Still, Job refused to curse God as his friends urged him to do.  He was faithful.  

It must have been lonely to be Job.  Equal to the loss of his earthly goods and family, Job must have felt the loss of his connection to the rest of humanity.  Because really--who would want to join in his suffering by sitting with him on the dung heap?  In the passage above, he shares the hard truth that he has learned--namely, that life on earth lacks meaning, flies by and is full of suffering.  Does anyone living in the 21st century doubt that those things continue to be true?

Still, how many times have you shared your own thoughts on that subject--life and its meaning--with others?  How many times have you opened up about how hard life can be?  I am a firm believer in the power of words and communication to heal.  I believe in the possibility anyway.  In practice, there are few circles in which that kind of sharing is welcome.  We live in a world where suffering is banished or marginalized.  Everything has to be "okay" or "hunky dory" or "a bit rough but we have it all under control" (big smile).  If someone were to say something like, "My life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again", well, let's just say, more invitations to dinner might not be forthcoming.  Which is too bad.  Because there is a lot to learn from the Jobs of the world (and we're all Job at one time or another).  There are also many ways that we could help each other if we were more brave, more willing to risk or more ready to share who we truly are or are trying to be before God.

I find Job's statement, "I shall not see happiness again" to be very promising.  Just as we must lose life to gain it, we must let go of any expectation or claim to happiness in order to find it.  At the pinnacle of suffering, Job may in fact be closer to experiencing true fulfillment than he's ever been.  Of course, this is one of many paradoxes that must be learned over and again by each of us on our own individual journeys.  Like Dorothy's yellow brick road, it is a way we must travel for ourselves.  But we do not have to do it alone.  God gave us fellow travelers.  The price is simply humility--being our true selves, without masks or pretense, willing to serve our neighbor and be served by Him.  It's a hard call and the temptation to run away--in the form of a shallow life, complete with addictions--is strong.  Still, each day offers a new opportunity to choose courage and authenticity over superficiality and lies.  I think it's what Robert Frost meant by the "road less traveled".  And I struggle, with the patience of Job, to make it my road too.