We are just people. We have needs and wants. We have strengths and weaknesses. We have love and hate. Of course we try to get our needs met. It is always something and it is always someone else's fault. My wife hurt her back. She does not know how. She does not know why. What she does know is that she does not want to take any kind of pain medicine and does not want to take a muscle relaxant either. She just wants to wince and whine about her pain. I get the sense that the pain i more emotional than physical; that the pain really serves a purpose for more than just a signal that something is wrong.

Even if we listen to the angels and heed their warnings, we will still know pain. It is not synonymous with evil. It merely exists to tell us that something is wrong. Pain is a test of faith and will. Pain is already now. Pain is.