"I'll Have a Number One with a Side of Pain Please"

Not many of us are looking for a side order of pain in our lives. I'll have all the good things this life has to offer, but none of that other stuff please. Wouldn't it be great if life was just kisses and hugs, smiles and laughter, thrills and highs. Wouldn't it be awesome if life always worked out the way you wanted it to: if you always succeeded at work, your doctor called back with good news, you got the grade/car/house/boyfriend/girlfriend you wanted? What's up with all this guilt, and failure, and disappointment, and pain?

This is the point when most marketers will jump in and tell you how to avoid all that. "You know there's a pill/thrill/vacation/upgrade/hobby/book/technique that will fix that for you... a little money can buy you anything, my friend."

Most of us think of life this way:

There you are standing on the peak. You're goal is to make sure you're always moving toward the right and away from the left. You fix your gaze on pleasure and curse pain as you look back in your rear view mirror.

In his research in leprosy, the late Dr. Paul Brand saw what life was without pain. Don't get too excited, unless you're up for a side order of leprosy. After watching thousands of lepers  become completely debilitated, Brand discovered that these men and women were losing hands, feet, eyes, and more not because of a disease, but because they didn't sense pain; their warning system wasn't functioning. These lepers, and Dr. Brand, see the value of pain. They've learned that pain and pleasure are necessary and beneficial parts of life. Like love and marriage, you can't have one without the other. To cut either out would mean sleep, apathy, or death.

As long as we're on this plateau called life, we may as well embrace both. As strange as it sounds, let's thank God for both the pain and pleasure He allows in our lives.

"Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." - Matthew 10:39