Goodness of Pain

Pain is generally considered a problem – a nuisance at best and a nemesis at worse. Pain hurts. It’s a distraction, a discomfort, and sometimes a devil to deal with. We avoid it when we can, suppress it if at all possible, and we always want to get through it as quickly as possible. But pain isn’t all bad. There’s a positive aspect to pain. There is goodness to pain. Author Clyde Kilby best says it this way, “I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.” Pain can be an excellent teacher, a gifted motivator, a beautiful warning, a sign alerting us to danger. While we should never enjoy pain or seek it out for its own sake, we should learn when to embrace it, gather the good from it, and then let it go when the lesson is over.