[yotlyolqualli]

Hello and thank you to all of you who sent positive thoughts and prayers this way in the recent loss of my sister. It's taken me a while to come to grips with it, and it still haunts me... but it is what it is and she is where God is, and so I can't, no matter how much it hurts, wish her back here on this plane.

Todays thought, for me, falls under the scripture that states that there is a time for everything and every purpose under Heaven. The dichotomoy of those things, struck me, and especially strikes me this morning. Some people believe that you should always be happy. Some believe that as Christians God should always make things easy and light and special and all those warm fuzzy feelings that so many people crave... only to find out that when they get them... they aren't quite as satisfying as we thought they would be.

For me... I think... that if one wants to know and fully experience pleasure, one must also experience pain. If one wants to know and fully experience rest, one must first work tirelessly and hard. If one wants to know fulfillment, one must know what it feels like to be empty. If one wants to know happiness, one must also experience sadness. If one wants to fully appreciate health, one must know sickness. If one wants to know, fully know, what they want, they must first learn what it is they DON'T want.

The only thing that that does not cover, is love. Love stands alone in so much that when one loves or is loved, they can appreciate it, without knowing it's opposite... hate. However, in order to love someone, and accept love in return, one must first learn to love him or herself.

I'd rather have pain, than be numb. Rather know hurt after hurt, than to wall myself in to keep hurt out, but in doing so, also keep all the good out. I'd rather know loss, than to not know what I am losing or what I have lost. IE my sister died. Id rather relive that nightmare over and over... rather than to not have known my sister at all.

Life brings many blessings, but it also brings about hard times. Without those hard times, however, we'd not appreciate the blessings as fully and as richly as they can and should be appreciated.

Anyway.... those are my thougts for today. Take care and God bless!

Lissa