“We are perplexed to see misfortune falling on decent, inoffensive, worthy people….Let me implore the reader to try to believe, if only for the moment, that God, who made these deserving people, may really be right when He thinks their modest prosperity and the happiness of their children are not enough to make them blessed: that all this must fall from them in the end, and if they have not learned to know Him they will be wretched. And therefore he troubles them…” -C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
In a stake meeting last night, we sat in a circle with the leaders of a ward that had been through a lot in the past few years, including recently, the unexpected passing of a member of their bishopric. Our Stake President asked, “What have you learned?” The answers were poignant and it was clear that each person had wrestled with difficult questions and had learned something unique.
One thing our Stake President taught was that we need to show gratitude for trials and the lessons they teach.
Earlier in the week, I wrote in my gratitude journal that I was struggling to find anything to write. Here is a list of things I could have been thankful for this week:
I am thankful to be able to visit my friends with bruises, bandages, arthritic hands, blindness, and pain to learn from them how to endure. I am thankful for their gracious welcome and when they laugh at my jokes. While their suffering makes me sad, I have learned through my visits that connection is the best source of joy in my life.
I am thankful for the 4! barking dogs behind my house because they keep strangers from lurking in our yards. They remind me how to keep friendship separate from annoyances.
I am thankful for the increase of love I feel for someone when they are suffering.
I am thankful for my own physical pain, because it helps me to slow down. It also helps me to appreciate the joy of pain-free days.
I am thankful for the struggles my children are facing because it is evidence that they are growing. I am thankful for specific understanding about a child’s struggles that came while I read the Book of Mormon this week.
I am thankful for a gracious God.
For all the blessings life has brought,
verse 3 of Thou Gracious God, Whose Mercy Lends, words by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1869
For all the sorrowing hours have taught,
For all we mourn, for all we keep,
The hands we clasp, the loved that sleep…
I have posted this piece before, but I love the words.