They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Humans have a great capacity to experience sorrows deeply and then recover and find joy once again.
Sorrow and joy are bound together. The tree in the Garden of Eden was the tree of the knowledge of both good and evil. It all comes together in the package just like Lehi talks about in 2nd Nephi chapter 2 when he says "for it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things." Indeed, our capacity for joy is very much increased by our experiences of sorrow.
The good news is that joy does indeed follow sorrow. We have every right to be optimistic when times are bad. We have the power to work through our grief, let go, and be happy again.
A favorite book is "The Faithful Gardener" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes PhD. It's subtitle is: A Wise Tale About that Which Can Never Die".
It is the beautifully told story of a man who survived the horrors of WWII and the lessons he taught his young niece. "The Faithful Gardener is, at its captivating core, the story of an open-hearted child who listened well to her old-country elders and who grew up to remember, to bear witness, and, as one of the premier storytellers of our times, to remind readers and listeners of all ages of 'that magisterial life force within all things that strengthens us in times of turmoil or transition, that faithful force which can never die.' "
It is the beautifully told story of a man who survived the horrors of WWII and the lessons he taught his young niece. "The Faithful Gardener is, at its captivating core, the story of an open-hearted child who listened well to her old-country elders and who grew up to remember, to bear witness, and, as one of the premier storytellers of our times, to remind readers and listeners of all ages of 'that magisterial life force within all things that strengthens us in times of turmoil or transition, that faithful force which can never die.' "
I hope I can entice you to read the book with these beautiful passages from it. I hope they will touch your heart and give you an opportunity to think about those times in your life when you had to "be resown".
To be poor and be without trees,
is to be the most starved human being in the world.
To be poor and have trees,
is to be completely rich in ways that money can never buy.
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New seed is faithful.
It roots deepest in the places
that are the most empty.
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A Prayer
Refuse to fall down
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you
from lifting your heart
toward heaven,
only you.
It is in the middle of misery
that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good
came of this,
is not yet listening.
*******************************
What is that which can never die?
It is that faithful force that is born into us,
that one that is greater than us
that calls new seed to the open
and battered and barren places
so that we can be resown.
It is this force,
in its insistence,
in its loyalty to us,
in its love of us ,
in its most often mysterious ways,
that is far greater,
far more majestic,
and far more ancient
than any heretofore
ever known.
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