Elsewhere, I have written about the “Mysterious Power of Suffering.” Here, I am utilizing Butler’s details about the Seven Martyrs at Samosata (a group in ancient Syria who were killed for their refusal to join in one of the Emperor’s festivals–replete with sacrifices and religious activities that, on account of their faith, they declined to participate in).

This group became seven when five young men came upon Hipparchus and Philotheus, who were sidestepping the ceremonies and devoting themselves to their prayers and worship of Christ. When Hipparchus and Philotheus began testifying about their faith to the others, the five young men became quite interested, BUT…they didn’t want to die!

The responses of the five to their two elders were along the lines of “Well, you two are rich and respected, and can probably talk your way or pay your way out of any trouble you might get into, but not us!” And here is what Butler tells us that the two elders replied:

“The earthen vessel or brick is but dirt till it be tempered with clay and has passed the fire.”

There is something powerfully and palpably true about this way of looking at suffering–at allowing life to affect you rather than spending your efforts in self-insulation. You have to let the clay, the dirt, the debris, the mud into your embrace…and you have to take the heat when it comes, too. 

That is, what fashions us into our astounding uniqueness is not the skillset we develop in avoiding life’s miseries, but the life and its manifold consequences that we embrace, allow, even suffer.