THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS. THERE IS ONLY THE RULE

Remember that old song, or is it an old saw: nobody knows the trouble I've seen; nobody knows my sorrow? The song is wrong. The truth is: everybody knows the trouble I've seen; everybody knows my sorrow. There are no exceptions. There is only the rule. And the rule is: nobody, but nobody, gets through this life without his or her share of troubles and sorrows. Nobody. That's the rule. No exceptions.

I was reminded about this truth recently while talking with several people about the troubles each was having, mostly with children. One of those conversations was overheard by others, who promptly chimed in about their troubles with their children. I don't know if it helped the person I was trying to console, but it sure felt good to me. We all have troubles with our children. (I know we did! And we have lived to tell about it!) A friend said to me once, "If someone tells you his kids are perfect, he's lying."

The same is true about other facets of our life: health, finances, job, and so forth. We all have troubles in these areas. That's the rule. No exceptions. Sometimes, of course, while in the midst of a problem, we realize we are not the exception. We are the rule. Yet we often wonder if we are getting not just our share, but also more than our fair share. Often we are convinced it is the latter. And if the truth were told, I do believe some people, maybe many people, seem to get more than their fair share.

Why this is true, I do not know. What I do know is God is always there in the midst of our suffering, whatever that suffering, and that God, especially now, will help us get through it somehow in some way. God always does. The problem is the getting through, even with God's help. Sometimes we think God has abandoned us as we suffer. Jesus certainly had those thoughts. He even expressed them as he suffered on that cross.

Jesus suffered intensely and unjustly. He was a victim of the rule. He was not nor could he be an exception, not if he was going to be truly human. He could have asked, as I am sure he was tempted to do, as we tempted to do, as we often do, "Why me?" The answer he would have received is the one we receive, "Why not you? There are no exceptions."

He had to get through it. He did. We have to get through it. We will get through it, as painful as it is sometimes. In fact, as we reflect back on our lives, we have. We have had our share of crosses that seemed unbearable, but with God’s grace and strength and the love and support of others, we bore them. In the end, as this special week in the year reminds us, there was for us then and there always be new life; there was and will be resurrection.

Does that mean God is uncaring, that God inflicts everyone just to inflict everyone? No; I do not believe that. I do not believe God wants anyone to suffer, even if it is the rule. Free will, foolishness and the luck of the draw are the reasons why we all suffer. What God promises is to be there with all the grace and strength we need to endure so that we can find new life, resurrection, when the pain and suffering cease. It always does. That, too, is the rule. That is what Holy Week is all about. Happy Easter.