Reposted from vasily_sergeev 
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( LOTS more roses this way: )

...similarly, we are buoyed by the knowledge that our sevel--suffering--is not in vain, but has a higher purpose and represents an opportunity for growth--for realizing our unique potential. We need only have savlanus--patience--to see it.

This concept not only holds true for the word "sevel" but it is to be found in all Hebrew words that connote suffering. For example, the word for crisis in modern Hebrew is "mashbir," which, in Biblical Hebrew, means "birthing stone," teaching us that, if we respond to a crisis positively, new life can come forth.  Just as a rose has thorns, but produces a beautiful flower, so too, from the thorns in our lives, magnificent flowers can bloom.

To be sure, very often our pain is so overwhelming, the storm that envelops us is so intense, that we fail to see the hand of G-d, and it is then that we need savlanut--patience--to find strength in the knowledge that all that has befallen us is ultimately for our good, even if that good is not readily apparent.

Two great Torah giants embodied this belief--Rabbi Akiva and Nochum Ish Gamzu. Rabbi Akiva taught that "all that our merciful Father does is for the good," while Nochum Ish Gamzu asserted, "This, too, is for good."

At first glance, they both appear to be teaching the same concept. But there is a fine difference, Rabbi Akiva propounds that everything our merciful Father does is for the best, even if we presently fail to understand it. We trust in G-d and know that all our travails are for our benefit. Nochum Ish Gamzu, on the other hand, taught that we do not have to await the future to see the good, because that which befalls us is already good.

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