Why Me?

Yeah, I'll brag about it. I don't think I'm being prideful about it a bit. I have a heck of a good life. I have faith. I have an amazing family. A smoking hot wife who always makes me smile. Good kids. Amazing friends. A job that I love going to. And it's not prideful because I haven't done a single darn thing to earn it. I flat out don't deserve it. I constanly ask myself, "why me?" Lord knows I've messed up pleanty in my life. I'm a sinful man.

The question is especially difficult when I see other people who are much better than me suffering. They suffer heartache and sadness. They undergo illness and pain. Injuries and debts and the sinking feeling that no matter how hard they swim they are always going upstream and will never find that light at the end of the tunnel.

Why me? I mean, life isn't perfect for me but it's not like the sufferings of others I see. I suppose it goes back to the age old question, "why do bad things happen to good people?" I'm sure there are some theologians out there who can give a decent explanation in a class room and explain how redemptive suffering works and how those who suffer enter into the suffering of Christ and become more holy and it sounds all great until you are trying to actually explain it to someone who is suffereing.

I think an easier explaination may be that we always have to remember that we are in an exile. You see, this world isn't as God desired it to be because of sin entering into the world. We have to remember that Heaven is the desirable home for us. We have to remember that we will never be completely happy until we are there. We have to remember that Earth is good because it was created by God but it pales in comparrison to what we have in store for us if we get to Heaven.

I suppose it's easier for me to look at the lives of the saints. So many of them suffered. Not only were there the martyrs but there were many who suffered illness and had diseses. There were many who felt heartbreak and lonliness. Many even felt the torture of feeling as if God wasn't in their lives. But they all kept turning to God and today are in their eternal reward.

It doesnt' make sense I expect---especially to those who are going through pain and torment perhaps. Perhaps they understand it much more than me. A story I always enjoyed was of St. Therese of Avila who was riding in a carriage one day when the cart hit a rock or a pothole or something and Therese was knocked out and landed into a huge mud puddle. She sat there and said, "Lord, if you treat all of your friends in such a way . . . no wonder you have so few."

Even if we follow God we will face our trials and tribulations. We are going to see and experience sufferings. It's just a fact of life. What is important is that we never keep our eye off of God. We don't lose hope. And someday we won't experience suffering anymore.