A Quote-in-a-Quote to Ponder

God Save me from coping
God help me to join, not separate
Help me to be with and in, not apart from
Show me the way of savoring, not controlling
Dear God, Hear my prayer
Make me forever cope-less
(Gerald May’s The Wisdom of Wilderness)

We were never taught to stop, to savor, and to hold our feelings of fear, anger, grief or loneliness. We were taught to get rid of our pain before we learned its lessons. Maybe that’s why wisdom is hard to find in our culture. – Richard Rohr

I love this quote! Our society teaches us that fear, anger, grief, and loneliness fall under the category of 'negative,' and as something to be avoided. Fear is weak, anger is deemed uncivilized and therefore not acceptable, grief only holds you back, and loneliness is easily remedied.

Whatever it is -- work through it, get over it, and move on.

By missing the value of learning from these emotions, we only teach people to stuff them away and act like they are behind them when they are really growing in the shadows. There is a lot to learn about self, about living, about grace, about choosing life and blessings in our reactions to these 'negative' emotions and their sources.

Learning to face our trials and disappointments in a healthy way will only help us to grow stronger through our experiences -- the good and the bad.