This is an image of a bottle of pain reliever that sits on a shelf in my office at work. I regularly make use of its contents as do some of my co-workers. Pain is commonplace to human life. Whether mild discomfort, chronic soreness or intense suffering, there’s no escaping pain’s touch on our lives.

And we try to make sense of and deal with our pain. We cry out “Why” into the darkness expecting an answer, an explanation. We embrace our pain as part of our identity, letting it define our narrative. We try to draw inspiration and motivation from our pain, to become a better person. We try to self-medicate and dull our senses, even for a short time.

Regardless of how we cope with our pain, God knows our pain and is with us in our pain. And he has launched a project of cosmic renovation that has already dealt with the cause of all pain and will ultimately flush all pain out of his creation.

Sony A7Riii, Sony 50mm f/1.2