“Why”, my kids often asked.
I might give them an answer, but sometimes it was “just because”.
At times, I’m tempted to ask why. Ok, to be honest, I did today. And it wasn’t the only day.
And sometimes God seems silent. To the suffering. To the disasters. To the difficulties of being human.
A friend once said “Life is hard and then you die”. There are days where I just want to offer my tired “amen” to that.
But… I’ve been looking for joy, and truly, joy is not divorced from suffering. I read this quote by Henri Nouwen yesterday which inspired me “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it everyday.” Even in the midst of suffering, there can be moments of joy.
An encouragement to joy does not diminish pain, or alleviate grief. This is not some pat suggestion or magic answer to the question of why,
Just because . . . There are things we can’t and won’t understand. But we can hang on to what is true, and good, and loving.
And then I can choose to breathe, to be thankful, to look for those moments of joy. In the midst of a challenging day, I experienced that today in a hospital room, where the precious ones I visited encouraged me more than I could have ever encouraged them.
And then I splashed some colour on my paper, and decided to share it with you… just because. And again I am grateful for colour, for sunshine, for faith, for the many gifts of every day.
Just Because
