The veil of innocent youth lifts when we discover that the day-to-day is a series of story problems. Everything is impermanent, not everyone has our best interests at heart and it’s not what happens to us but how we respond to it that determines our destiny.
As L. R. Knost writes, “Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living: heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.”
Beauty is defined by the attitude of the beholder. And the view from the mountaintop has more meaning if you have known the shadows in the valley.
