A little extra Bonhoeffer is never a bad thing

The cross is not adversity, nor the harshness of fate, but suffering coming solely from our commitment to Jesus Christ. The suffering of the cross is not fortuitous, but necessary. The cross is not the suffering tied to natural existence, but the suffering tied to being Christians. The cross is never simply a matter of suffering and rejection, but a matter of suffering and rejecting for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Meditations of the Cross by Dietrich Bonhoeffer