This is one of my favorite Nibley quotes — “Why was I put in this situation?” It’s from the video, Faith of an Observer when Nibley shares his World War II experiences. Hugh Nibley was part of the military intelligence — assigned to the 101st Airborne Division — the Screaming Eagles. On June 6, 1944, D-Day, he was one of the first few to hit Utah Beach in Normandy. What an assignment of doom.
“I’ll tell you if there was anything that puzzled me all the time I was there, I would say, ‘What on earth am I doing here? Why was I put in this situation?’ I felt I was just an observer. ‘Why, am I being shown this awful stuff? I don’t want to see it!’ ” (Hugh Nibley)
When life serves up some difficult experiences, maybe we should ask, “Why was I put in this situation?” God must want me to learn something. Here is my opportunity to remain faithful, knowing that descent into opposition and difficulty is the only way I can move up the ladder to God.
You can read about Nibley’s World War II experiences in “Sergeant Nibley Memories of an Unlikely Screaming Eagle.” It’s a great read.
Well, Deila, I also loved that quote myself. So true. I also think of Spencer in Visions of Glory who asks the angel who was showing him all the debauchery of Tahiti. He tried to turn away because he didn’t want to see what he was seeing, but the angel kept showing him more, despite what he wanted. He said he didn’t tell what he saw as graphically as he saw it because it was so disturbing. I have listened to Spencer’s account many times, but this last time, I realized why he saw what he saw. He had to see what he did, not so he had a knowledge of ancient Tahitian customs, but because his life’s work would lead him to children who had been severely abused during their lives and he could identify with their experiences and help them find healing, as well as find his own healing from the wounds of his own childhood. So many of our experiences in this life help us to help others after we have found our own way through them. I can help others who have lost children a lot better than someone who has never lost a child, for example. You can give hope to friends who face some difficult diagnoses with their health when they face some of the same challenges as you have faced and conquered. Sometimes our experiences are given to us to help others find their way through the darkness here and sometimes they are given to us to prepare ourselves or our immediate families to go through future challenges. I do love Nibley’s attitude — he realizes that what he experienced was a test or a way he was given knowledge and, at the time, was completely stymied as to why he was receiving it. However, looking back on his life’s experiences now that his earthly sojourn is over, we can see how profoundly so many of his related experiences affect the lives of others even today — such as our lives — because he has left us a wealth of thoughts, experiences, and understandings he made or had during this earthly life. I, for one, as you as well, I am sure, are VERY grateful for his insights — he helps us not to have to reinvent the wheel over and over again. =)
Thanks Phyllis — I sure hope you are feeling better. For the last two months I’ve had a block eustachion tube — my right ear is muffled, feels like there’s water in it, or like I am under water. I guess I will finally have to go to the doc. Bummer. I hate to go. I keep thinking it will go away. So odd.