I have often been asked by many people, if God loves us so much, why is there so much pain in the world.  I never really had a good answer for that, probably because I couldn't understand it myself.  But being in the habit of praying and meditating, I began to focus on this question.  Sure enough, "if you should seek, you will find; ask and it shall be given to you; knock and the door will be opened.” The answer sure came in this fashion! I was lying on the couch meditating and the Spirit came and told me this story…

"If you had a child, and it became of age, would you buy it a bicycle?” asked the Spirit.  And I answered, “Certainly!”  And the Spirit said, "Is that because you love the child?"  "Yes", I said. The Spirit then continued, "Can you tell me that at some level, some place in the back of your mind you did not know that your child, while learning to ride the bicycle, would hurt itself?"  It took me a moment and I answered, "Yes I did know this but I didn't think about it."  "You're not thinking about it is not important", the Spirit said.  The Spirit continued with, "Now go in your mind to the time when you began to help your child learn to ride that bike.  If you had used training wheels, it would be when you first took the training wheels off.   When you pushed this child on the bicycle, it fell over and the child hurt itself, did you to take that bicycle away from the child so it would not get hurt again OR did you put the child back up on the bike and give it another push?"  I regretfully replied, "I put the child back up on the bike and pushed it again." I have to tell you that at this point in time I was feeling a little embarrassed by realizing that I not only gave the child the first push but continued to do so until it learned to ride.

For some reason I began to think that the Spirit was somehow going to make me feel that I really did not love my child for doing so.  And the Spirit then said, "And you continued until the child learned to balance.  And the child continued to hurt its self until it learned.   Somewhere in your mind you knew, once the child learned to balance it would really enjoy riding its bicycle.  And so it is with your Creator. For the Creator loves you so much, IT gave you life, and IT allows you to continue to hurt yourself until you learn the lesson you need to learn in order to really enjoy life."

After that and over a period of time, I was led to understand that each pain denotes a lesson we are trying to learn. The amount of pain and the acquired endurance is in direct proportion to our stubbornness in learning.  At first it was very easy for me to push those thoughts aside, about it being my fault, until I realized that soon as we suffer a pain we are that quick to blame something or someone for it.  It is so much easier than to dig inside yourself. 

As you think about these things, you can begin to understand why holistic healing is the better way to travel.  While I am not against medicine, I do not believe it is the first thing we should jump to for it only masks the problem by treating the symptom.  And while this may be the better way in some cases (which is due to the problem in the subconscious mind), it should not be the only way to deal with the problem. There is no medication, herb or supplement that should ever be taken instead of or without prayer and meditation on seeking the lesson we are to learn.  While some of these experiences may seem unpleasant, continually remind yourself that not only does your Creator love you, but IT is the one Who gave you LIFE (your bicycle) and is holding you up on your bicycle (Life) and will never leave you.  Because you have free will, this is as much as the Creator can do to help you learn your lessons so that when you do, you will really enjoy LIFE (riding your bike)!