Hope and despair are not opposites. They are cut from the very same cloth, made from the very same material, shaped from the very same circumstances. Every life finds itself forced to choose one from the other, one day at a time, one circumstance after another.
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By losing everything, we come to the realization that everything is far less than we think it is and far more than we ever dreamed it could be. In the end, everything is what cannot be taken away, what cannot be lost, what will not fail us in our hope. Everything is the nagging awareness that always there is more and that I already have it. I am reduced by misery to stop and look through the darkness to the light on the horizon that never changes. Darkness becomes the incubator of light.
How am I just now discovering Sister Joan D. Chittister!?! Toward the end of last week I picked up Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope and flew through it. Her words resonate with my experience and I could not read fast enough. I made so many #notestoself. I am eager to get more of her work, and learn from her.
Fireweed and Snow: Keep Showing Up