Why Must We Suffer?

Here are a few scenarios you're all familiar with:

• You're accused of something you haven't done
• You're persecuted because you've chosen right
• You're ridiculed for standing up for your beliefs
• You suffer in spite of your efforts to take away others' suffering
• You endure pain beyond what you think you can handle

Why must we go through trials? Why should good people suffer?

I think suffering helps us recognize what is good in life. It helps us savor precious moments with friends and family. It helps us appreciate simple joys, like the smell of rain or fresh-baked cookies; the sight of spring flowers; the sound of a songbird; the taste of fresh water on a hot day; the touch of the wind against our faces. Suffering helps us grow. It gives us a greater capacity to love and be loved.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, "Righteous sorrow and suffering carve cavities in the soul that will become later reservoirs of joy."



Popular country music singer Dolly Parton explained this concept another way. "The way I see it," she said, "if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." 



"If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

Middle Tennessee has been getting pounded with rain. I woke up to a fantastic display of thunder and lightning around four this morning. It's supposed to rain throughout the day. 

I like rainstorms because they aren't all that common in Utah, where I'm from. But storms hinder our missionary efforts and get our scriptures wet (on weeks when we don't have a car to drive).

In that sense, storms can be frustrating. Too often, I fail to see the rainbows because I'm too busy worrying about the rain. Too often, I fail to endure suffering with a positive attitude because I forget to focus on the blessings that will come because of that suffering.

 

But Elder Maxwell's promise is sure. Cavities carved by suffering do indeed fill with joy, just as this normally dry pond near our home has filled with rain:

"Righteous sorrow and suffering carve cavities in the soul that will become later reservoirs of joy."

If you're going through hard times—and we all do at one point or another—remember difficult days will bless you later in life. If you'll allow it, suffering can bless you even now—with patience, and charity; hope, and understanding.

And always remember you are never alone. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught: "[N]ot only has the Savior suffered, in His case entirely innocently, but so have most of the prophets and other great men and women recorded in the scriptures...If you are having a bad day, you've got a lot of company—very, very good company. The best company that has ever lived."

Be patient. Have faith. As soon as this storm is over, you'll be blessed with a beautiful rainbow.