There can be great suffering in times of joy!
I grew up in a tough, I guess bad, environment. I had some real trauma, real struggles, real challenges. I also had some great time, some great blessings. I have lots of great memories. Lots of wonderful beautiful people in my life then and now. When I hear music that takes me back, most times it brings really good memories. I focus on those. I remember those.
Just because someone is in suffering, doesn't mean they can't also have joy and many blessings. We have to take the good with the bad. We will never eliminate the bad in this world. We won't, we can't. Until we die and are reunited with God in heaven, we have to deal with the bad. We can relish in it, dwell on it.
Or instead we can see the blessings, we can find joy. We can open ourselves up to the love around us. Great blessings can come from the most darkest of places.
On that same note just because someone has a seemingly perfect life. A life full of every desire. All the riches in the world. Two parents, money, a home, great careers etc.... People around them that love them and accept them. There can still be great suffering. We all know this, we sometimes see this.
We know that life can turn on a dime. Sometimes someone in the depths of great suffering experiences a miracle. Sometimes someone that seemingly has everything can suffer such trauma that their very existence is shaken to its depth.
Life is a gift, life is beautiful, life is ugly, life is complicated. None of us come through it unscathed, unchanged. We our time comes, when the end is near; will we remember the joy, the blessings or will we remember the bad? Will the joy and blessings outweigh the bad?
I believe it will!
We can't assume that someone who has nothing is suffering and has no joy. We can't assume that someone who has everything isn't suffering and has only joy.
We have to be the love and the blessing for each other. I want to be a good memory. I want to promote love. I know I fail sometimes, but I will try again and again, to bring more joy than suffering. To see more good than bad. To love more and more.
NIce reflection, Pam. The world is full of both joy and suffering. We all have them at one time or another. I think one of the greatest tools to battle despair in suffering is to see it as universal. If we can see the pain and joy of others and share it with them, hopefully we will have others do that for us. Christ comes to us and shares in our suffering and shares in our joy. He became man to do this even though he was God! How much He must love us!! If we follow in his example, we will share the sorrows and joys of others. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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