The way sadness and joy work together is a mystery to me. It seems that one cannot fully exist without the other and together they enrich our lives.
Lately, I have felt like the two emotions are at full out war with each other in my heart. I want desperately for them to reconcile and realize that they are the two things that cause me to be fully present in my life right here and right now.
I know it sounds crazy but I know that the sorrow creates the contrast in my life that helps me fully know the power of joy, and joy helps me see the value in sorrow.
I learned of the death of an amazing woman today and my soul is grieved for her loss and for all of the amazing people who love her. I am at a loss for words because everything I type feels cheap. It feels impossible to think of joy in these moments, but when I think of her all I can think of is her amazing smile, her vibrancy, her Joy. She will be missed. The world was a better place with her here. Still, even as I write this with sorrow, her legacy is her joy.
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1 comment:
The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can't stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope -- and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend on it) disappoint us.
--Walter Wangerin
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