Some Thoughts about Spirituality
I have recently been reading the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis in the Christian Old Testament and Jewish Torah. Joseph's story could be a textbook example of unfairness. Joseph is a good person. He does the right things. Nevertheless, his brothers become jealous of what they see as their father favoring him and they hatch a plot to get rid of him. They sell him into slavery and he winds up in Egypt. He actually ends up earning great esteem in Pharaoh's court, but Pharaoh's wife wants to sleep with him. When Joseph refuses day after day, she eventually hatches a plot to discredit him and have him thrown into prison. Joseph was the model of virtue and respect and he unfairly lands in the dungeon. He ends up winning over the guards and the prisoners and is given a high place in the prison. He interprets a dream favorably for Pharaoh's cup bearer who is restored to his place of honor and we finally think Joseph is going to get what he deserves-restoration to his former position! However, the cup bearer forgets all about Joseph and what he's done. I can't imagine how easy it would have been for Joseph to just give up and say, "life is just unfair" and curse God for abandoning him yet again. But that's not how his story goes. After a while, Pharaoh also has a dream and the cup bearer FINALLY remembers Joseph. He is brought from the dungeon and interprets Pharaoh's dream. Pharaoh gives him his signet ring (a sign of authority) to wear and puts Joseph in charge of the storage and distribution of all the food in Egypt during the upcoming seven years of abundance and famine. He gets the chance to save the Egyptians (and his own family) from starvation!
Joseph never let his unfair situation prevent him from being the best person he could be. He gave his all and lived with integrity no matter where he found himself. He always seemed to remember that he wasn't alone, even when it appeared at first glance that he had been abandoned. If Joseph believed his story ended with his brothers' betrayal or Pharaoh's wife's betrayal or the cup bearer's betrayal, he never would have gotten to the part of his story where his suffering is redeemed. Through Joseph's perseverance, we begin to see how holding our heads up during the unfair moments in life could lead us to discover who we were truly meant to be. I want to encourage all of us to try to see the bigger picture in times when life feels unfair. Yes, feel and express the anger and frustration if it's there, and, if the unfair situation is systemic, work with others to end the injustice, but we shouldn't allow "victim of unfairness" to become our whole story and define how we see ourselves.
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