Suffering

I'm waxing philosophical these days because nothing particularly different or exciting was happening during this week a year ago. Constant in the situation when someone has cancer among other possibilities is the question of suffering. For a Christian that question sits in the middle of our faith because of the suffering of Christ, but it shouts with meaning when someone you love has cancer. I'm not saying that Marsha was suffering in the classical sense of the word, but the possibility is ever present when they are dying of cancer. We see ourselves perhaps separated from God when we suffer ourselves and see no end, or when we watch another suffer when we know they don't deserve it. The question sits bold in the air. Why is there suffering. I don't know that I have ever come up with a satisfactory complete answer, but I do know my suffering has most often happened because of the cumulative complicated effect of a whole group of free people. Even many diseases are the cumulative effect of many groups of people. I find it so easy being analytical about things, even suffering, and it does help me face the realities when they actually happen, but the possibility of Marsha being that reality made logic fade. I know I would rather have suffered than to contemplate Marsha suffering, but those choices were not in my control. Gratefully all the concerns about suffering were in vain. Although Marsha was uncomfortable, she did not suffer, or if she did suffer, God's strength was enough for her to live without any outward sign. So with all the analysis and all the practical experience I still find no satisfactory complete answer about suffering, but I continue to work at it.