My own idea, for what it is worth, is that all sadness which is not either arising from the repentance of a concrete sin and hastening towards concrete amendment or restitution, or else arising from pity and hastening to active assistance, is simply bad; and I think that we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to “rejoice” as by anything else. Humility, after the first shock, is a cheerful virtue: it is the high-minded unbeliever desperately trying in the teeth of repeated disillusions to retain his “faith in human nature” who is really sad.
From The Problem of Pain
Compiled in Words to Live By
Compiled in Words to Live By
The Problem of Pain. Copyright © 1940, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright restored © 1996 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
It is very difficult for someone in the midst of great loss or pain to hear that we are to “rejoice in all things.” However, the degree of difficulty in it’s hearing does not diminish its truth. The challenge therefore, is to continue believing, expecting and searching for the blessing hidden in the pain. If we can cling to that truth, and search for it, we will almost always find it, and it will be the best path through our present difficulty.
Seeking the joy,
Z gardener
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