Psalm 126: 5-6
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and wept, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Seeds | (c)M.M.Hewitt 2015
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I am a firm believer in this concept. We all face hard times and we often question why. Why do bad things happen to me? Why is life so hard? Whether you are a religious person or not I do believe that this concept is universal: hardships make us stronger, and through hardships we are able to learn of and appreciate true joy when it comes.
How can we understand light if we do not have dark? If all is the same then we have no way of knowing true feelings (a la The Giver, anyone?). Some would argue that it's better to not know pain, a sort of "ignorance is bliss" mentality. Perhaps. But my friend all that you will miss out on.
For those of you who have experienced childbirth this may be an easy one for you to understand: months of suffering followed by hours of excruciating pain to receive a tiny miracle at the end. Or those who have lost a loved one and then gained the love of a community or reinforced the love from family. Or those who face debilitating disabilities daily and learn of their inspiration to others. Or those who faced their hardships and survived and then used their gained wisdom and knowledge in order to be a support for others facing the same thing.
By no means do I make light of the terrible things people have to face. And there are certainly hardships that people have to face that are too horrible to write here. And I most certainly do not wish hardship and adversity on anyone. I hope we all can avoid it if at all possible. But the unfortunate thing is because of forces of nature, our own decisions and the decisions of others bad things will happen to us. But it does not have to be the end of us. From these events/moments we can turn them into things of beauty, turn them into knowledge that we can then use to help and benefit others. We shed tears in the face of our trials, but in the end we reap the joy of the help we can give to others less fortunate.