joy and sorrow

Sarah Bessey assures us that some of the things that some people want to 'fix' are the very things that are fixing everything. She talks of the moments of joy - birth of children, sleeping in same room as sister for years, early morning coffee. But also moments of pain and sorrow; regrets has had to grapple with, crying after loss of a baby, unanswered prayers, painful recovery after an accident. 'I want the scars I carry, visible and invisible'. Victories and sorrows - their totality is the spiritual formation of being a person in this world.
Fr Richard: Seek joy in God and peace within; seek to rest in the good, the true, and the beautiful. It’s the only resting place that also allows us to hear and bear the darkness. Hard and soft, difficult and easy, painful and ecstatic do not eliminate one another; they actually allow each other.
The Sufi mystic Rumi explains the transformative nature of experiences - both ups and downs - through poetry: "The Guest House"
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Music from Taize: Christe lux munde (Oh Christ, light of the world)
Image: cover of a book by neuroscientist Antonio Demasio