Lately I've come to know a brand new emotion. I'm just taking a guess here, but I'll bet that you might have felt it too.
With all the turmoil, devastation, corruption, loss, heartache, hate, anger, fear, and sadness that the world has experienced to the extreme in the last several months, my heart has ached, and my mind struggled, to make sense of it all. I've begun to feel like it was almost wrong to allow myself to be cheerful and happy when so many were hurting.
How could I continue on in the relative peace and ease of my daily life, while so many were suffering?
The easy optimism that I have generally known all my life has begun to be insufficient for such large scale problems. Earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, hunger, hopelessness, unimaginable violence and hatred. It just keeps coming and there's not a whole lot that I can do to fix things. These thoughts press down heavily on my mind.
Lately hope is pretty hard to come by.
I know deep down that it can't be right to let the darkness snuff out all of the light and goodness that I have seen so many times in the world. What about beauty and love? What about kindness, culture, friendship, and goodness in all it's abundant forms? How can I feel real sorrow and sympathy for all the heartache in the world, and still find joy and hope in my own life?
I look to some of history's most brilliant minds, and noble hearts, for a little inspiration. How have others carried on and stayed strong when the world seemed a scary place.
Here is some of the strength of the ages! In no particular order, some of my favorite quotes from some pretty amazing souls. Write them down! Say them over and over! Memorize these words! Cross-stitch them on a pillow! Whatever will help. : )
"Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." Gordon B. Hinkley
“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.”
John Calvin
“Joy is strength.”
Mother Teresa
“God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities.
Jeffrey R. Holland
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." Martin Luther King Jr.
"Our human compassion binds us the one to the other-not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt to turn our common suffering into hope for the future"
Nelson Mandella
"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity. our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful."
Marie Curie
"I simply cannot build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death...I think...peace and tranquility will come again."
Anne Frank
Today's a new day; let's make it purposeful!
Kara