Epiphany for the Day

We all have asked it before.  Sometimes, we ask out of confusion, while other times, we ask out of curiosity.  Sometimes we ask out of anger, while other times, we ask out of appreciation for new knowledge. 

When I taught 2-3 year-olds, I would be asked this question many times out of curiosity.  While teaching Jr. High, I would hear the question be asked less out of curiosity, and more out of anger. As I continue to emerge into adulthood, I have noticed that, as people get older, the question seems to trap itself inside their heads and is mostly asked, not out of a genuine curiosity, but because they need justification when something "bad" happens.

The question is "Why?"

Why did he/she do that?
Why did I do that?
Why don't I have this?
Why do I have this?
Why can't they just understand?
Why did this happen to me?
Why didn't this happen to me?
Why can't I have that?
Why...Why...Why?

I rarely ask these questions when things are going well.  I wonder why that is? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.)
 
It is usually when I didn't like the situation-when it wasn't going the way that I thought it should- that I would ask these questions.  Somehow, the situation or idea needed justification, and I had a difficult time accepting it if I didn't have an answer.  If only I knew why, then things would have been more settled for me.

Today, I thought of the age-old question, "If God exists, why do bad things happen?" It is a very, very valid question, and it is one that I am not intimidated to answer anymore. In order to begin to answer that question, I would need to return that question with many, many other questions. It would take patience, but I enjoy engaging in that type of conversation.  I don't know if I have the answer, but I know what I believe. 

The interesting thing about the question "why?" is that, the more I find some answers, the less I am asking that question when other situations do not go my way. 

I feel like, when I ask "why?" now,  I doing it more out of a child-like wonder or curiosity than a need to justify a situation. Even though I don't know why I feel this way, it does give me peace.