I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
"I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden, along with the sunshine there's gotta be a little rain sometime..." This lyric sung by Lynn Anderson (1971) was a funny thing my Mom used to say when she found her children exhibiting a complaining spirit about life in general. She would often say it when she realized she too had expectations that life was not cooperating to provide. And even though this song is being sung in the context of a relationship it bears such truth to the rest of life. I beg your pardon but suffering in this life is unavoidable. I came across a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon from 1910 titled Maroth-The Disappointed , that I found great comfort in. "Who are you that everything should happen just as you wish? Should the weather be fine simply because you want it to be so when a thousand fields are gasping for rain? Should you have the channels of trade turned in your direction when, if that were the case, scores of others would b...