Knowledge is what tells one that tomatoes are a fruit. Widom is what tells us not to put a tomato into a fruit salad.

During a radio interview I was asked why so many Bible characters had serious flaws. My answer was simple. That's all God has to work with. All the perfect people are in heaven. The only ones on earth are the folks with serious weaknesses. The talent pool has always been pretty thin when it comes to moral perfection. God works with sinners because that's all he has to work with. In heaven we will all be vastly improved-perfected by God's grace. But until then, he uses some pretty ornery people who fall short in many ways, and he does some amazing things through them. That is what grace is all about. We do the messing up--and God does everything else.

There are millions of reasons to allow pain and suffering rather than eradicating them, but most of those reasons can only be understood within each person's story.

The story is told of a little piece of ebony which complained bitterly because its owner persistently whittled on it. Since he was making a flute out of the piece of ebony, he paid little attention to its complaining. "Without this whittling and cutting you would be only a stick. You may not like it, but wait. Little piece of ebony, I am  changing you into a flute, and soon your sweet music will cheer and comfort many. This whittling and cutting is needed to make you a blessing.  Meditation Moments by Millie Stem