"Suffering"

Romans 5:1-5
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”

I always remember when I was young, my mom would always tell me to suffer first, and then enjoy. And what do ya know? Romans 5:1-5 proved that mom was right after all! On the contrary, my aunt told me it was better if I enjoy first then suffer. They were referring to me studying hard and enjoying life. But back then, I preferred to suffer first. Somehow I had this feeling that I’d rather rough it out than live an easy life. Now that I think about it, I wonder what made me feel and think that way.

Now that I’m older, I’m glad I didn’t choose to play and live an easy life. Life is never that easy to begin with. Plus, out of all our sufferings, there is always a reward in the end. And the reward lasts for a lifetime. When you choose to suffer, you build perseverance in yourself. You learn self-discipline and self-control. It is a virtue that no amount of money can buy. It’s not like you can pay $10 billion to have them injected in you.

I always try to push myself and avoid slacking, because I always feel like a loser when I slack. I always feel like I’m mentally weak if I give in to the temptation to slack. I always believed that in order to obtain the best, it is best to go the hard way to get it. Because going the long hard way rewards you with something durable, everlasting, and virtuous. Besides, going the long hard way earns you respect. So what’s wrong with suffering???