TBT - Why?

Many of you reading now might not remember Grace. She's been around longer than I have, nearly sixteen years although she doesn't post often now. She had to deal with cancer about ten years ago and beat it soundly. Unfortunately, she's having to deal with it again. I found this post I wrote with her in mind back in 2010. With everything happening in the world today, I thought it might be a good time to repost it.

Why?

It was actually my friend Grace, my good friend who is worried now, who asked the question back near Christmas that got me really thinking and mind blogging the question “Why do bad things happen to good people?” She wasn’t the only one to ever ask the question and I am certainly not the only one to ponder the answer. The answer I left her in comments is the only accurate answer, ‘I don’t know.’ But I kept mulling it over and I remembered something I had heard a long time ago. I heard it on a soap opera of all places but it was very thought provoking.

A priest was trying to explain why something awful had happened in this person’s life. He used the back of a piece of cross stitching to explain how we view life. It’s often confusing, unclear, it’s not ugly but it often doesn’t make a lot of sense. Why does this string jump and go way over here? Why is this piece broken off? Why is this part tangled and knotted? Why isn’t the picture clear?? The reason is because we are seeing it from our side. The only side we can see during our life. Although we can often see a vague pattern forming, the details and true beauty of our lives, the whole plan – so to speak – can only be seen from the Creator’s side.

What we see as a confusing tangle from our side is truly beautiful from God’s side. He knows the detail and the pattern and why things happen as they do. God does not will that the knots and tangles are there but He knows it’s all coming together to form a beautiful life. From His side it’s perfect.



You know when our kids were small we all took them for their vaccines. Picture them around two years old. We take them in and even as they are safe and secure in our arms someone sticks them with a needle. It hurts and they cry, sometimes we cry with them. Sometimes we get that look like, 'Someone just hurt me on purpose and you didn’t do anything to stop them. Why?'

And what do we do? Do we try to explain to the two year old how a vaccine works and how they can protect us from disease? Nope, we just hold them close and tell them we love them and that we’ll take care of everything. They just need to trust us. When bad things happen I think that is what God wants to do for us. We just have to try to let go of the worry and fear as much as we can so we can feel and hear Him. So maybe the answer to why bad things happen isn't as important as knowing God is going to be with us through whatever does happen.