Disease Cannot Cripple Love – February 27, 2000
It has been said, “Much of the world’s work is done by [people] who do not feel quite well.”1 The responsibilities of daily living are seldom easy. They especially weigh us down if we must perform when we are not at our physical best. If everyone waited until they felt perfectly well before doing any good, not much would get done.
Some of the world’s greatest people made their best contributions while battling poor health. For years, Benjamin Franklin suffered from gout, a painful form of arthritis. But regardless of his sufferings, Franklin had a surprisingly optimistic view of his condition. He decided that gout was a remedy that spared him from worse disease by prompting him to live moderately.2 Many lives have been improved by the things he accomplished while not feeling quite well.
Most of us would rather avoid suffering, but because of our love for others, we are willing to sacrifice for their benefit. A young mother diagnosed with lupus struggled heroically to raise her family. Pain was her constant companion. She never complained—never made anyone suffer along with her. Always focusing on the welfare of others, she daily bore her pain with dignity. She loved children so much that, after raising her own, she became the neighborhood mom. She fed the children, played with them, and cared for them like a second mother. None of the children knew she was ill. From her bitter sufferings came an outpouring of sweetness that touched many lives, and proved that disease cannot cripple love.
However serious our aches and pains may be, the best remedy for feeling better has always been to make someone else feel better. It allows us to forget ourselves. Reading a book to a restless child takes little effort and leaves one feeling more alive. Baking cookies for anyone is a tonic. Visiting a friend whose sorrow is more than our own brings abundant relief.
Those who suffer must not give up, but always look forward as new hope arises with the next sun. They must never believe that happiness is out of reach, or that any suffering endured patiently is without reward. The furnace of affliction reveals our most noble qualities—qualities matched with the highest of honors.
There was One who suffered more than us all, so that our lives could be renewed. His was the greatest and most difficult of all work. He perfectly understands our grief. Through His strength we can harbor one less doubt, cheerfully take one more step, and once again lift up our hearts to find joy in our labors—even though we may not feel quite well.
Program #3680
1. John Kenneth Galbraith, in John Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, ed. by Justin Kaplan (Boston: Little, Brown and Co.), 723.
2. See George L. Rogers, ed., Benjamin Franklin’s the Art of Virtue (Eden Prairie, Minnesota: Acorn Publishing, 1996), 208-9.