I woke this morning and for the slightest second felt the hope that everything from yesterday had not happened, it was only an awful dream.  It only takes a second or two, but then I felt that hope being washed over with a heaviness that was incredibly thick and I swallowed hard, because I knew it was here again.  Grief was going to be staying for a while. 

We spend a lot of time talking and thinking about the things that make us happy and that we enjoy doing, but I also know there are true treasures in the sadness and hard times we come across as well.  In fact, I think they may even have more ability to show us what we are meant to do in this world.  The person who starts a foundation from the death of a child or a disability a family member struggles with, the lifetime devotion to a cause that you have seen someone suffer through or have suffered from themselves, the inspiration for a business designed to fill a great need, we see these examples everywhere we look.  

If you have lived in this life long enough you know this type of heaviness, and my question now is what can we do to use it?  How do the times of sadness shape and mold you and your purpose in life as much as the times of happiness and joy?  What new thing is behind the pain, just waiting to be strengthened?