Everything Happens for a Resource

We might not see the reason, but we could find a resource.

“Everything happens for a reason.” 

For some, it's a statement of deep comfort. It can be a way of saying that there is still hope, that whatever has just happened is not the end of the story.

Others find the statement problematic. What is the reason for the suffering of innocent children?

“Everything happens for a reason” is tangled up with issues of God's positive will versus God's permissive will. 

Whether or not you see a reason for some of the difficult things that have happened to you, what if we see them as a potential resource? 

Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium acknowledges the evils of our world — and those of the Church. Still, he argues that they “must not be excuses for diminishing our commitment and our fervor. Let us look upon them as challenges which can help us to grow.”

The author Jorge Luis Borges has a similar take. He writes:

“A writer—and, I believe, generally all persons—must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource… All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”

We often wish we didn’t have so much “clay” with which to work. We also need to grieve. 

Still, that which is most difficult might also be what can help us grow. Whether or not we see the reason, we might find a resource.

Note: I will be on retreat during Holy Week, so I will not post anything next week. I will be back during the first week of Easter.