We have four rambunctious kids, the second oldest is particularly
strong-willed. One time she was manifesting her independence in
a particularly obnoxious manner, in the front yard, in front of
neighbors, when one woman commented how she couldn't put up with
such behavior, it would drive her crazy.

My wife and I looked at each other but said nothing. You see,
that woman's two children suffer from a disease, I forget the
name, but basically they cannot walk and can barely talk. The mother
can understand them of course, but I have trouble. When they go
somewhere they have to load their van with the two motorized 
wheelchairs and plop the kids into their seats. There is no
struggle buckling them up, or worry about them running out into
the street. When those kids are put to bed, they stay put in bed.
They went on a trip to Disney World and the father
said how fun it was because they didn't have to wait in line for 
the rides, because they were handicapped they got to go right to 
the front. 

This woman whose kids are doomed to deteriorate and die early deaths
was wondering how my wife and I put up with a kicking, screaming,
stubborn child. Our daughter was born screaming and fighting and has honed
both skills to a remarkable level. We think God made her so strong 
because when she was just one year old she had to have surgery to 
reconstruct her bladder, and she needed that strength to get through 
the tests, the needles poking her, being tied down in a hospital bed 
for a week so she wouldn't pull the tube out of her belly. She 
needed that stubborness to recover so quickly, to be back walking
and climbing around when the doctor said she wouldn't feel like 
doing anything for a while. How come we got through that episode
fine when right now we would give anything if she would just 
_shut_up_?

Sometimes it's easier to handle the glorious suffering of the
great tragedies of life than to keep faith during the little
inconveniences of our day to day drudgery.