who wants pain?
no one.
but who can escape from pain?
no one.
whether we like it or not, we have to make room for pain in our lives.
for to feel no pain would be to care for nothing.
to feel no pain would be to love no one.
to feel no pain would be not to live at all.
to attempt to avoid pain would be futile.
to endeavor to embrace it, on the other hand, would be to gracefully accept the inevitable.
pain can be excruciating, but it can also be enlightening.
pain can defeat and disable, but it can also energize and empower.
we can allow pain to siphon our spirit, but we can also allow it to make our spirits soar.
when out of our pain emerges a bitter and broken human being, we have allowed pain to consume us.
but when out of our pain rises a better and braver individual, we have allowed pain to coach us.
how we deal with each painful episode in our lives determines how well and wisely we can turn blight into blessings.
failure brings us face to face with our fallibility, but it also opens our eyes to our resiliency.
tragedy can cripple, but it can also challenge.
we can choose to give up and die, or we can hang on and survive.
adversity, they say, graduates the ablest pupils.
and pain is food for the soul.
if we allow pain to devastate us, then we will be destroyed.
if we allow pain, however, to shape us, then we will be strengthened.
pain can bring us untold misery, but it can also bring us unexpected opportunity - the opportunity to be a more caring individual.
pain gives us something joy cannot give.
pain gives us the greater capacity to feel for others.
he who has been betrayed understands betrayal most.
she who has lost understands loss best.
they who have been hurt understand pain most.
and indeed, he who has been hurt the most, can often heal best.
whereas before, we cared not whose shoes we stepped on, now we tread carefully so as not to step on anyone.
whereas before, we dismissed the pain of others, now we fall on our knees in prayer for God to alleviate the plight of others.
pain can make us kinder, gentler people.
pain can make us aware of our own sense of helplessness in the face of suffering.
pain teaches us bravery as well as humility.
but most of all, pain affords us the gift of empathy.
you see, blessing can sometimes be blight.
for blessing often blinds us to the misery of others.
it is difficult, after all, to cry out in pain and at the same time shriek in victory and joy.
it’s like being the belle of the ball.
as we gloriously twirl around in our glittering ballgown all night, does our heart really go out to the wallflower sitting in silent grief, forlorn and forgotten in the corner?
the truth is, it’s difficult to think of others when having such a great time.
that is the blessing of blight.
that is the power of pain.
when we hurt the most, we heal best.
and in healing others, we heal ourselves.
-author unknown-
"An incredible journey moving at the speed of sound."
Posts
