journey towards wisdom

day 9

The race is not always to the swift,
   Nor the battle to the strong,
   Nor satisfaction to the wise,
   Nor riches to the smart,
   Nor grace to the learned.
   Sooner or later bad luck hits us all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

Hard times will come. The waves will crash, perhaps destroying the castle of sand you have built. I built my own, thinking the new situation would far exceed the old. But life comes with bad news. The waves came and I was drowning. My castle didn’t stand because it was of my own manufacturing. Where can we stand when the waves come? Knowing we will get wet and most probably knocked down.  But where can we stand when the violent waves threaten us?

My God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence.

2 Samuel 22:3

“The more I study gratitude, the more I have come to believe that an authentic, deeply held sense of gratefulness toward life may require some degree of contrast or deprivation. One truly appreciates a mild spring after a harsh winter, a gourmet meal following a fast….Some blessings are not known until they are lost.”

~ Richard Emmons

 

“She found, too, that now as she was accepting [Sorrow and Suffering’s] companionship in this way,  she seemed more alive than ever before to beauty….”
~ Hind’s Feet on High Places