In all probability one would say music is good for the soul, or poetry is, or nature is, or any number of other things is. In contemplating this question, an article I read at least 30 years ago was brought back to mind. Joseph, in the Bible, went through adversity after adversity, all the while maintaining his inherited relationship with God.

All of a sudden, like a jolt,  I realized why people find themselves in so many situations which are interpreted as bad, sick, negative, even evil.  I had to ask myself, "To what degree of adversity must we be thrown in order to see each one as an opportunity? "

If people traveled merrily along life's road, without bumps and detours, they would never have reason to turn to God. Many of us think we don't have to. Most of us get so caught up in enjoying good humanhood that we forget all about God or have no time to commune with Him. Ninety-eight percent of the time we're not even aware of His presence. Many of us think we can work out our dilemmas on a human level. And usually we do - but, they come back. They keep returning, time and time again, because we fail to learn. We fail to see it is not a problem, but an opportunity - over and over - an opportunity to turn to God. An opportunity we missed.

Contemplating further, I concluded that the earlier we learn through Joseph's experience that God is always working His purpose out through us, the fewer adversities we'll have. Situations won't appear as problems anymore. Then we can roll merrily through life "in spite of" bumps and detours, knowing it is God taking us through.

In thought, I was reminded of lessons we learned as children. In our earliest years we wanted to "do it my way". And, as often as our parents may have told us it was not the right way, we insisted until we finally learned on our own they were right. Even with our own children, we often have to back away and say to ourselves, "They'll learn the hard way". God, being our Father, is always there watching, teaching, picking us up, giving us opportunity after opportunity to learn, and through our own stupid insistence on doing it "our way" we fail to learn until many days, months, or years later, when it finally dawns on us "God is the answer".

To some it comes quickly and early. To others, it comes after much strife, in middle years, or old age. But eventually we must all learn. Eventually, we must all know that "of ourselves we can do nothing".

So, what is good for the soul? Problems. Problems, problems, problems. Only then are we led to contemplate the things of God and finally realize it is God appearing as all forms, as all situations, and that God is good. Only then will we continue a deepening of spiritual consciousness as to what God is, and come to the realization He is All.

With all of Joseph's seeming problematic situations throughout his years in Egypt, he confessed to his brothers, "It was not you who sent me hither, but God". When will we learn?