Today I'm thankful... travel and pain

On Friday I was going to write a post on how sometimes I remember to be thankful for pain, because it reminds me that I am just a traveler here, and am still on my way to my permanent home. But that day turned out to be the most painful travel day of my life and the irony was just a little to much for me to handle. It's a long story, but it involved a canceled flight at 5:30am and arriving at my destination over 12 hours late, so it hurt a little too much for me to write that post. Thanks to some California sunshine, and the beautiful Pacific though, I think I've recovered enough to talk about it again. So what follows is what I had originally intended to write, until the sting of irony made it a little too difficult.

Today, I'm thankful for pain. This is very much not always the case, but when I woke up with a back ache this morning, I immediately thought about how good it is for me to not get too comfortable here. That kink in my back that insists on returning far too often- that reminds me that I wasn't made to settle here forever. It was a small thing that gave me a broader perspective for today. My mom and I were talking the other day about different things that just make this life difficult. Injustice makes me crazy. Loss and heartache are hard to bear. Monotony that sneaks into our day-to-day and is forever trying to discourage us is a difficult beast to battle. The physical breakdown of our bodies (yes, I notice this, even at 23) seems to be, at times, a constant reminder that things are not working their way toward perfection. Weird concept right? Isn't that against Darwinian theory? Hmmmm.

Anyway... all of these things can serve either to discourage us and make us feel that life is just a downer and completely lacking in hope... or we can use the harshness of life here on earth to remind us that we were not made to be satisfied here. I'm just a traveler, and the difficulties can help me remember that, and keep me from getting too comfortable. I'm not often thankful for the cracks and pops that my back makes every morning, but today I was able to see them for the blessings that they can be. Today, I can be thankful for the pain.

"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world"
~ C.S. Lewis