suffering

I am going to sound a bit like the writer of Ecclesiastes today. If you haven't read that book, it is a good one. Kind of gives you an interesting perspective on life. Lots of questions, not very many answers. Old Testament.

I played softball last night. Had a great time. Was gonna write about softball, but something happened on the way home that changed my mind.

I was driving down 40 highway near the edge of town. I noticed something in the middle of the road. My brain thinks, " don't hit it. Let the wheels miss it." I get up to it, and it is a possum. Unfortunately, this is a possum that has already been hit but was not killed. He is kind of rolling around, flopping around....well, you get the picture. It was sad. I am over him and gone in 10 seconds. As I drive down the road I think, "maybe I should go back and run him over, finish him off, put him out of his misery." But, I decide that that is as morbid of a thought as the thought of him just laying there waiting for the inevitable crunch of the predestined driver.

So I drive on. And I think. I think about possums that suffer. Children that suffer from hunger. Children that suffer when their parents get divorced. People that suffer when they are in relationships with mean selfish partners. People that are sick. People that are lonely. There is alot of suffering around. Seems like plenty for everyone. What is the purpose of needless suffering? What is the meaning?

I wish I could stop it. It bothers me that there are painful things that I am powerless to change. But, I know that this is a part of how the world works. As much as I don't like it, that is the way that it is. I want to have a heart that tries to end suffering, but after I have done what I can do, I know that I have to learn to live with the fact that things are not always going to be the way that I want them to be. In spite of this, I still have to see the good.

So, in spite of suffering, its a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.