But as you go through these seasons, something does happen. In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in my heart an invincible summer. But gratitude changes the pangs of memory into tranquil joy. The beauties of the past are borne, not as a thorn in the flesh, but as a precious gift. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
When someone we love dies, the pain and the anguish we feel are because we have lost someone we want and love-it is not because the world is mean or cruel or ugly. It's good to remember in these times that it is we, not God, who make it that way. The cruelty and the hatred of this world, the bombs, explosives, guns, violence which are all out there are a result of this world and our human freedom. But they are not directed by an angry God who wants to punish us or keep us under control by reminding us every now and again who's really in charge. It is easy, in the midst of tragedy and complex pain, to want to place the blame somewhere.