Sometimes we wonder why God does not grant us a life of ease, free of burdens. Life is filled with many problems. Why do we struggle with health problems, financial, relationship and emotional problems?

Here’s an example from nature. The eagle finds the tallest tree or highest mountain ledge to build its nest. The eagle lays the first layer of the nest with sharp objects such as thorns and stones. Next, the eagle covers the layer of sharp objects with soft material, such as wood, feathers, and animal fur. As the baby birds hatch, the soft layer of the nest surrounds them.

After they grow a bit, the mother eagle takes the nest material and mixes it up. The jumbled mass becomes a mixture of sharp objects and soft ones. Some of the sharp edges even cut the baby birds’ skin. Soon, the mother stops putting food from her mouth into the babies’ mouths. Suddenly, their comfortable world has become painful. They are hungry and in pain from the sharp edges cutting into their bodies. The discomfort becomes so great that the babies begin to fly away to get out of the nest.

This beautiful analogy from nature explains the value of suffering in our lives. If people were too happy and comfortable in their physical existence, they would never seek God. Most people turn to God only in times of trouble.When they are faced with intolerable pain, an incurable illness, a devastating loss, or a financial disaster, they find that life is not as great as they thought it was. Suddenly, life becomes difficult.It is during those times of pain and crises that we begin to question if there is a God, and ask, what is the purpose of this life?

Suffering has the value of turning our attention to the Lord. Without it most people would not give God a second thought. They would live and die without even thinking about God. Suffering makes us pray to God to help us. When we are rich and living in the lap of luxury, we do not think about God. But when we suddenly lose all that we own, our stocks drop, or we lose our home, we begin to seek God. Misfortunes make us turn to a higher power for help.

Sometimes when we become too complacent, God may shake things up a bit to make us do our spiritual work. God wants all of the baby eagles to soar. God wants us to soar from this physical region to the astral, from the astral to the causal region, from the causal to the supra-causal region, and from there to return to the highest spiritual realms.

God may do whatever it takes to help all the eagles fly and return home through meditation. It is a wake-up call to teach us that we should not be too comfortable in the physical world. We can wake up to the sharpness of life so that we can rise from this physical world and soar into spiritual realms within. At times, God removes the soft coverings so we can be reminded that this life is painful and full of suffering. This realisation will drive us to put in greater effort to meditate more and to soar to our home of true peace, the lap of God.

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