'Why?'

A professor of philosophy had given his students an examination. The last question simply read: “Why?”

The professor passed only two of his students. One had written, “Why not?” and the other answered, “Because.”

Some of life’s most profound questions are put in the single word “Why?” Why must people suffer? Why can’t I be like everyone else? Why do I have to have this disease? Why am I poor and unlucky? Why did my mother have to die? Why am I a victim of floods? Why is my son missing in action? Why can’t we have a child? Why did our house burn down? Why wasn’t I chosen? Why can’t I choose my own death? Why?

Well, why not? We are all subject to the same things. It rains on the just and unjust. Life is not fair. There are as many circumstances as there are individuals. The law of probability just is. One out of so many will be affected no matter what it is. Nobody said life will be easy. Life is difficult. Everyone has a choice. Murphy was right. When something can go wrong, it will. We reap what we sow. Some things are not in your control. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. You didn’t take care of yourself. You were warned. You knew better but did nothing about it. It’s genetic. The devil lurks in dark places. It was an accident. It won’t happen again.

Well, because. Because the world is not perfect, but the world is reaching perfection. Because each experience has a lesson in it for us. Because God still works for good for those who love Him. Because when we break nature’s laws, the consequences are illness and death. Because genes hold within them blueprints of biological life and human character. Because circumstances carry in them dynamics, consequences and results all their own. Because the human character is still to be transformed from lower to higher understanding, from selfish to unselfish intention, from human to godly perceptions. Because everything has its time, its course and its purpose.

Furthermore, there are some things we cannot know. There are some things we need not know. And there are some things we will not know. So just live life the best way you know how. Trust in the Higher Power. Search the inner knowledge which is God-given. Put on the Christ-mind. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God.” And you won’t have to ask, “Why?”