The Gift of Suffering.

I was going to blog on how well Tony Snow did at his first press conference as the White House Press Secretary, but watching him sent me down a different road. Someone asked him why he wore a yellow bracelet and he answered that it was because he had cancer last year. He got emotional and had to pause. Then he said that having cancer was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

I'm not sure what the details of that feeling is, but I have a hunch. It reminded me of a true story our Priest told a few Sundays ago. I can't remember the details of the names or year, but I will just tell the story as best I remember it.

There was a famous gymnast who was at the pinnacle of his career when he had a horrible accident while performing and was paralyzed from the neck down. Five years later there was some sort of sport convention. There was a packed audience in a large auditorium to hear great athletes speak. At one point there was a spotlight on the center stage with a empty chair. A famous football player carried out the gymnast that had been injured 5 yrs before. He was like a rag doll. He weighed only 86 pounds. Once he was settled in the chair, he began to speak. He said that right after the accident he wanted to kill himself. He said that he would never wish what happened to him on his worst enemy. He said he prayed that no one in the audience would ever known the pain, the inner anguish, and the deep sorrow that he had experienced. He said he prayed that no one would go through what he had gone though unless.......unless it was the only way for them to know God. That is what had happened to him. He was living the high life. He never thought of God nor thought he needed him. But when he was brought down crashing into the reality of his situation he had nowhere else to turn for his inner pain. Finally he became exhausted with the sorrow and gave his life to God. He said that the accident and all that followed was the best thing that ever happened to him because it led him to God. It gave him the greatest joy and peace he had ever known.

There is meaning in suffering. Sometimes for us and sometimes for others. We just hardly ever look past the immediate pain to see the greater good. I think Tony was able to see things he had been missing. Such is the way of pain laid at God's feet. We see clearly through what was nothing but black glass before.