Heavy stuff, but good

I've been slowly working my way through Madeleine L'Engle's beautiful book, Walking on Water.  It's a collection of her reflections on faith and art and has been so richly thought-provoking in my own life.  

In the second chapter she addresses the issue of evil existing in the world.  I thought this quote crystalizes the concept well:

"The problem of pain, of war and the horror of war, of poverty and disease is always confronting us.  But a God who allows no pain, no grief, also allows no choice.  There is little unfairness in a colony of ants, but there is also little freedom.  We human beings have been given the terrible gift of free will, and this ability to make choices, to help write our own story, is what makes us human, even when we make the wrong choices, abusing our freedom and the freedom of others.

  The weary and war-torn world around us bears witness to the wrongness of many of our choices.  But lest I stumble into despair I remember...Jesus too, had to make choices, and in the eyes of the world some of his choices were not only contrary to acceptable behaviour, but were foolish in the extreme...when he turned his steps towards Jerusalem he was making a choice which led him to Calvary.

  It is the ability to choose which makes us human."