" God does not sow the field of our life. He does not make these things happen. He did not cause Chester’s car to smash into Paula’s car, killing her young husband and her daughter. God doesn’t deal with the world that way; he doesn’t move us around like chess pieces. He does not sow, but he expects that out of whatever the world in its madness does to us, we will somehow reap a harvest. He does not sow these things that happen, but he expects us to deal with these things in creative and redemptive and life-opening sorts of ways. But again, the one-talent man was right, God does reap where he did not sow. He gathers where he did not winnow. He does not sow the pain, he does not make the pain happen, but he looks to us to harvest treasure from the pain. "

― Frederick Buechner , A Crazy, Holy Grace: The Healing Power of Pain and Memory