Thank you for your fine and inspiring piece, Ms. Eikenberry; it helped to stimulate a much needed and deeper look at areas I have ignored for a while.  The one and only test I see is where I remain agnostic, somewhat or deeply in doubt of God's mercy and love or ability to help.  Nothing outside of me can produce this effect, although I am usually sorely tempted to blame or put the onus on some person, place, thing, or situation.  Any rules or expectations I put on the world or God as to how both should act is most often where my trials and tribulations get their power.  I am not entitled to anything, for I already have abundance in the peace of Christ; getting the eyes to see that, of course, is the trick.

It has been my experience that “I am the architect of my own adversity.”  Perception is cause. All tribulations test my vision; it is an “I”-chart.  I know today that any time I am upset or wounded the source is in me, not out there. Reality is only in the heart; the life I get is there. I can only be a victim if I volunteer for it. But there is necessary suffering, and that is the realizations of where I have blocked the sunlight of the spirit, coming to see and walk through those wounds and defects that have limited His spirit. 

Sorrow, for me, is not a trial or tribulation but a healing process of letting go of my attachments. In spirit and truth, all that can actually be taken from me or sacrificed by me is that which stands in the way of greater love and service. In effect, I can never lose anything of real value.

As you wisely noted in “the imagery of flourishing plants and trees,” God wants us to thrive, to be all that He gave us the potential to be through His Grace.  And, yes, your are so right: He has invited us all to a feast (but I too often clear that table for flowcharts, speadsheets, and arm wrestling) and the “good times” are the intended gift of placing ourselves in His care.  

It is in neither joy nor suffering that I get the motivation or necessary growth but with “the eyes to see” by the illumination of the Holy Spirit that “all things work for good for those who love God.”  And thanks to your surrender to His word, I get to rediscover this yet again.

Yours in Christ, Tom Lynch