In several past essays I have struggled with the problem of not only accepting suffering but actually welcoming it, as a religious philosophy. The thought of Catholic saints who wore hair shirts, or of Shiites who to this day march through the streets once a year striking themselves with chains until they bleed, made me shudder. Surely, a good and loving God would not require this of His children. Yet at the very heart of Christianity lies the crucifixion, the cross, which we are taught was God-ordained.

My friend Oluwadahunsi responded to my conflict of spirit by sharing one of those email messages we all get from time to time that merge beautiful images and messages. I share it now with you. It began —

Good thought for the day —

The first screen showed a beautiful rose and a butterfly against a dark background along with these words:

Once there was a man who asked God for

a flower ...

... and a butterfly.

The next two screens showed a cactus and a caterpillar with these words:

But instead God gave him a cactus ... and a caterpillar.

The following screen showed these words:

Then he thought:

Oh well, God has too many

people to care for ...

And decided not to

question

After some time, the man went to check up

on his request that he had left forgotten.

On the next frame there appears the cactus, now bearing a lovely flower, and upon the flower is a butterfly, and these words:

To his surprise, from the thorny and ugly

cactus a beautiful flower had grown.

And the unsightly caterpillar has been

transformed into the most beautiful butterfly.

The final frames contained this message:

God always does everything right!

His way is always the best way

even if it seems wrong.

If you asked God for one thing

and received another,

TRUST.

You can be sure that He will always give you

what you want at the appropriate time.

What you want ...

... is not always what you need!

God never fails to grant our petitions.

So keep going to Him without doubting

or murmuring. Today's thorn

Is tomorrow's flower!

God gives the very best to those

who leave the choices up to Him!

(If you liked this message, send it on to others.

God Bless you!)

Inspirations.

These following words were Oluwadahunsi's own wisdom on the suffering of the world:

He gave us choice, and because He gave us choice, He said He will not always strive with the will of man or He'd be contradicting Himself.

Thus EVERYTHING IS CAUSE AND EFFECT. As you sow, you reap. So even though He is a perfect God, thus bad cannot come from Him, only good. He has to permit bad when we choose it or He'd be contradicting Himself there too. The best He can do for us is to mitigate, which He does ALL THE TIME. Otherwise every time we do something wrong, bad or evil, bad or evil consequences would ALWAYS result. Think of all the wrong, bad or evil things we all do each day and the world is still in existence, albeit with a lot of problems. For example, if GOD DIDN'T MITIGATE as you sow you reap, cause and effect — Every time someone drives recklessly, an accident would occur.

And every time an accident occurs, EVERYBODY involved would die.

Every time there is a war, there would be no survivors of anyone at the battlefields

Every time someone catches a disease, he or she would die.

Every time someone fires a gun, someone would get hit and die.

There would be no such thing as injuries, only instant deaths. There would be no illnesses, instant death once afflicted by anything, no such thing as a survivor.

Once a so-called natural disaster occurs, everyone in its vicinity would perish.

Planes would crash every time the pilot makes even the slightest error, etc.

Or even every time someone lies or commits any sin, there would be dire results.

Think of a world in which there is no mitigation at all. Only cause and effect is in operation. Think of all the errors, simple or major, that you as a human being make every day, and you go unscathed or survive the consequences. Or if you have children, think of all the things that happened to them, yet they are alive and thriving. Think of every time you go out and come back safe. Ditto your loved ones.

Because we don't see or think of ALL THAT GOD PROTECTS us from, we only see the things He allows, we don't realize how merciful and loving He truly is, and the reason He allows our choices to sometimes manifest in accidents, disasters, illnesses, etc., is to get our attention. Unfortunately, we keeping getting and doing worse and drawing further from Him rather than closer.

If only man's will were allowed to result in this world and God didn't mitigate, man would have self-obliterated. That's the truth.

God loves us but we don't love one another.

Oluwadahunsi is the author of a number of Christian spiritual and secular inspirational books, including the "My Book of Life" series containing "Little Pieces of Heaven," "Letter to Maya Angelou," "Nursing Rhymes and Nursery Crimes" and "Meals For Thought." His website is www.mybookoflife.org.

In the same week I heard from Oluwadahunsi, a phrase came to me from somewhere else, a woman's voice saying, "What if everything that is challenging you came with the assurance that when you have had the courage to surmount it, you would receive a wonderful reward? Would we look at it differently?"

Yes, we would, I thought. Maybe God was answering my petitions for understanding.

So now when the dragons come, may you pry their jaws open with interest to find the gift inside. I know I will.

— — —

Barbara Fitz Vroman is an award-winning writer and longtime teacher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Rhinelander School of Arts, and at The Clearing. Her newest novel, "The Experiment," is about ordinary people making peace. Visit Barbara's website at www.barbarafitzvroman.com, or send her an email at {email pearlwin@uniontel.net}pearlwin@uniontel.net{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Barbara Fitz Vroman.