Pathway of Pain

If my days were untroubled and my heart always light,
    would I seek that fair land where there is no night?

    If I never grew weary with the weigh of my load,
    would I search for God's peace at the end of the road?

    If I never knew sickness and never felt pain,
    would I search for a hand to help and sustain?

    If I walked without sorrow and lived without loss,
    would my soul seek solace at the foot of the cross?

    If all I desired was mine day by day,
    would I kneel before God and earnestly pray?

    If God sent no winter to freeze me with fear,
    would I yearn for the warmth of spring every year?

    I ask myself these and the answer is plain,
    if my life were pleasure and I never knew pain-

    I'd seek God less often and need Him much less,
    for God is sought more often in times of distress.

    And no one knows God or sees Him as plain-
    as those who have met Him on the "Pathway of Pain."

                            ~ Author Unknown (contributed by Todd Booth)