It's Not Fair!!!

Initially, my gut reaction is to yell out, "This isn't fair!"  I see babies everywhere.  I see mothers who are selfish, who don't act out of love for their children...yet they have them alive.  Why?  But then I am hit with the reality.  No, it's not fair.

Life isn't fair.  It was never promised to me that life would be fair.  If life were fair, I wouldn't be living in this nice stone house while a student I know just down the road is living in a shack with no furniture.  That's not fair.  If life were fair, I wouldn't get to lie down next to my husband every night while many others are still searching for their soul mate.  If life were fair, I wouldn't get to kiss my three remaining children every night while countless couples struggle to conceive.  My children go to bed every night with a full belly while numerous other children will have to go to bed with a grumbling tummy.  No...life isn't fair, but haven't I been blessed in so many ways. 

Several years ago, I spoke to a group of people about my faith journey.  And I began by telling them about how truly blessed I was.  I had never endured any extraordinary heartache.  I had no tragedy to speak of...I lived a blessed life.  So many other women have dealt with rape, molestation, adultery, abuse, addiction; the list goes on and on.  At that time, I should have been asking "why me?"  Why do I get to live such a great life?  Instead, I ask it now. 

We want to know "why?"  Why us?  Why Max?  We do our best to be faithful Christians.  Why us?  A favorite priest of ours told us about a woman he saw on TV who had asked herself the same questions many times.  In prayer, she came to her conclusion. "If not you, then who?"

I liked this.  We know bad stuff happens every day in our crazy world.  So if not you, then who?  I know it doesn't answer the question of why this has to happen to anyone, but it does answer why us? 

I think it's a huge misconception that we have when we believe that most people get through this life without suffering.  We tend to think that the majority of people will live out their lives with very little heartache.  One thing I have learned is that everyone has a story.  What appears perfect from the outside, very rarely is.  Just because someone has a picture perfect life at the moment, doesn't mean they always will.  You never know what your future holds.  That statement rings true for everyone.  So, there's no reason to be jealous.  My journey is my own.  It was chosen for me.  I will take my suffering..and offer it up.  Pick up my cross...and walk. 

Our faith is strong.  Our faith is true.  God knows what we need and He will not leave us alone.  Who am I? Who am I to question a plan that I never understood in the first place? God knows so much more than we can comprehend...He gives us what we need to know in order to get us where we are going. 

Death IS evil.  But Jesus conquered it and one day I will be able to thank Him face to face. 

 

"The more we are afflicted in this world, the greater is our assurance in the next; the more sorrow in the present, the greater will be our joy in the future." -St. Isadore of Seville

 

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." -Luke 14:27