"Don't nobody know my troubles but God."

Sunday afternoon, Sylvia and I attended a play/musical called "Black Pearl Sings" at the Watertower Theater in Addison.
This was probably their best play of a rich season of offerings. I was captivated by the 1930's Texas and New York City settings, and the themes of a musicologist capturing songs for future generations. "Black Pearl," a paroled Texas convict, is the singer who reaches back through time for songs of the African-American experience in the Americas and before. I was particularly captivated by an early song, "Don't nobody know my troubles but God." The soulful, blues tune accompanied by periodic stomping of the feet spoke volumes of the experience of oppression.
I am worried that we don't have such experiences any longer. I am not asking for oppression, but sometimes the relative success/excess we enjoy in 21st century America seems to drive persons further from God. One would perhaps think that blessings would drive one to seek the Blesser, but more often the reality seems to be that suffering drives one to seek the Comforter. I would pray that all life, bane and blessing and in between, would send us to the one God in charge of it all.