Pain Has a Purpose

Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

Bob Perks in 2001 wrote these words.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

Without pain and loss we might not understand joy, hope, and love.

We can see that pain has purpose.

If you touch a hot frying pan, it burns you, but next time you will be more careful.

If you fall down, you get up and try again and again until you don't fall as much.

If you run a race and lose, your feet and legs hurt for days afterwards.

But you learn to train more, prepare more and run faster. You appreciate the joy of winning.

If someone you love dies, you learn to love the people who remain even more.

If you experience humiliation, you learn how to be humble and to take time to praise, flatter and lift up others.

If you love so bad it hurts, you learn that love has two sides. To love and to be loved. They don't always go hand in hand.

So, my friend, if you are experiencing pain in your life, ask God to show you the lesson to be learned from it.

Dear Lord, we pray that as we go through the pains of life that we would look for the lessons You have for us to learn. Help us look at the pains as a gift and a tool for making us better. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.