Asking “why” is a useless question directed toward the mystery that we call God. I asked “why” constantly when I was a child. My mother said I had a huge “curiosity bump.” I feel that my questions frustrated her and with good reason! I remember my little cousin asking “why” and her mother would say “Because!” And then my cousin would say, “Because why?” And the conversation would never end with any direct answer.

I have learned that asking why something happens is a sign of discontent with the way that things are, the way of Tao. It just doesn’t help anything. We have to live the “why” of our own particular but universal life. Everything is unfolding just as it must.

We ask “why” when great cataclysms happen. Now we ask why we must wear face masks when they are hot and downright confining. We ask “when” there will be a vaccine for the corononavirus. We ask “who” will love us when we are such difficult people. There are no ready answers because the very questions imply impatience with the unfolding processes of life.

Somehow we must learn to accept things at their root and their root is universal and particular at the same time. We cannot master control of anything, so perhaps gratitude is a better state of mind than irritation or downright rage.

Gratitude gives things time to come to fruition according to God’s plan. Bernie Siegel says we must get on God’s timetable and that is something we need to strive for. Impatience never helps anything, but gratitude is a soothing panacea for any situation. Maybe not gratitude for something evil, but gratitude for a loving God that we can never see with our human eyes.

Life cannot be stopped; even death cannot end it. It just goes on and on into higher realms invisible to the eye. Make peace with life in general and your particular life will suddenly get better.

Vicki Woodyard