seven loaves to the four thousand, how many wicker baskets of leftovers did you collect?” They answered, “Seven.” Then Jesus said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

Reflections
HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO ENDURE TRIALS PATIENTLY
No human being goes throughout life without trials. Of course these trials vary in kind and intensity. Whether big or small, the thing is it is OUR trial. Maybe others have bigger trials but THEY are the ones enduring them. Actually trials can be blessings. I was told that the Chinese character for “crisis” is the same as “opportunity” so crisis or trials can be opportunities for growth. It may sound like a cliché or motherhood statement but it is true that what does not break us, strengthens us. I am inspired when I read a personal testimony of a cancer survivor who says that her cancer is God’s greatest gift to her, because it had made her closer to God. I am amazed at the ability of human beings to endure, for example, the concentration camps of the Nazis, the torture in prison camps. I read of a person who was put in isolation in a small dark room. The only light came from a slit below his door and a small weed happened to grow just in front of it. Everyday, he would lie on his stomach and watch the weed grow and he said later on that this was what kept him sane — this tiny green plant which to everyone else is absolutely useless. It is a consolation to know that God will not allow us to be tried beyond our strength. Somehow God will send us help to endure our trials patiently even if it is only a tiny green plant.

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