My answer...

In my recent post called "Life" I reflected on why sometimes lives are taken when they seem to have not yet ripened. In my scripture study this evening I was reading Alma 14. This is where Alma and Amulek have gained believers but also been imprisoned by the wicked. The believers are burned by fire and Amulek asks Alma in verse 10, "How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames." In my reference book, Unlocking the Book of Mormon it has a great quote to go along with this verse. "It is difficult for mortals--who see events only through eyes that are restricted by time--to see things in their proper relationship so far as the eternities are concerned. Thus, because we as mortals have only limited vision it is understandable why we sometimes desire or wish for things in this life that would not be for our best welfare in the eternities to come. For example, if we had unlimited power and followed our mortal feelings, we would probably never suffer pain, or disease, or even death. But would this be the best thing for us from an eternal perspective?" Alma is able to see through the eyes of eternity in verse 11. A quote by Spencer W. Kimball was my answer...
"Now, we find many people critical when a righteous person is killed, a young father or mother is taken from a family, or when violent deaths occur. Some become bitter when oft-repeated prayers seem unanswered. Some lose faith and turn sour when solemn administrations by holy men seem to be ignored and no restoration seems to come from repeated prayer circles. But if all the sick were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the Gospel, free agency, would be ended.
"If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil--all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency..."

Maybe this only hit me hard because I've been thinking about it a lot lately. And maybe it's not the norm to share this on a blog post. But I don't care. I am learning and want to share it with you--my very small, probably all Mormon, blog reading population. I've never heard it put this way and it was

VERY VERY COOL.