A New Simplicity

“…and that is how I feel about suffering.  When something bad happens, I will not let go of that bad thing until I have discovered the blessing that lies within it.  When my late father died (now I’m in mourning for my late mother), that sense of grief and bereavement suddenly taught me that so many things that I thought were important, external success, all of that, is irrelevant.  You loose a parent, you suddenly realize what a slender thing life is.  How easily you can loose those you love.  And then out of that comes a new simplicity.  And that is why sometimes all the pain and the tears lift you to a much higher and deeper joy, when you say to the bad times, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.'”

–Jonathan Sacks via On Being with Krista Tippett