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There are no guarantees in life,
there is no assurance,
that the good things you have will remain,
that you will be protected from all pain.
There are no guarantees in life,
there is no promise,
that the dreams you dream will come true,
that you will have the life you pursue.
So take each day as it comes,
and seize each moment that is yours,
dance in the rain if you could,
bask in the sun if you would.
Don’t hold back the love you must give,
and learn to forget and forgive;
cry if you must yet don’t forget to laugh,
lift up your eyes and see the stars up above.
There are no guarantees in life,
so let go of your fears,
this is the day to live,
with all that you hold dear!
Love is not only the fire
that consumes you,
the insatiable desire
to be with your beloved,
that cannot wait
and cannot stand ever still.
Love is also the simple warmth
shared between two hearts,
clasped hands that understand
without saying a word,
being still and staying close
without intruding
upon each other’s thoughts.
Love is not only the thunder
that rolls and screams,
that shouts to the world
how happy and proud it is,
that cannot contain
the bliss it feels.
Love is also the coolness of rain,
the tenderness
that washes away your pain
and gently remains through the years,
the love that lingers like the breeze,
and takes away your tears.
Love is strong, but it is also tender
Love speaks, but love listens more,
Yes, it is love also that which seems small
yet grows ever more and more,
Love is the brightly shining sun,
but love is also the shelter of the moon.
If you woke up this morning not feeling fine,
If you ever woke up thinking
you may not have the strength
to do all the things you need to do,
If you ever woke up with aches and pains all over you,
and you just can’t spend the day just like you wanted to,
know that it’s alright.
It’s alright to spend a few more minutes in bed,
and it’s alright to miss the routines
you’ve rehearsed all over in your head.
You can cancel your plans if you want to,
you know you need to,
for there are times to work
but there are times to rest,
and there are days so gray
you can’t be at your best.
Still if you can hang on,
and if you can breathe,
if you can endure each moment
that you live,
you’d have survived the day,
you’d have paved the way,
to wait for tomorrow
when you can leave all your sorrows,
and you can begin again,
for a brand new day.
There was a time when I received one of the most serendipitous gifts on my birthday. It’s a customized notebook from my sister where one of my own quotes had been inscribed on the cover. This is the quote that’s complete with an attribution to my name:
“Don’t give up now. For all you know, your dreams are just about to come true!” – Jocelyn Soriano
It was a very timely message that I needed to read. And I couldn’t help but be struck with the awesomeness of it all. It was something I had written long ago, and it came back to me right when I needed to remember it most.
Have you ever experienced something like that? Something like a happy coincidence just when you thought you’ve given up all hope? What do you do when you feel like giving up?
Mother Angelica had this very amazing quote. She said, “I am not afraid to fail, I am scared to death of dying and having the Lord say to me. ‘Angelica, this is what you might have done had you trust me more’.”
Maybe one of the reasons I lose hope is because of that feeling of failure. After feeling that I have already tried everything, I still can’t seem to make any progress in what I do. No matter how hard I work, I remain stuck.
It’s one of the worst feelings. To think that everything you do seems to be in vain. Even the work you’ve accomplished throughout the years seem to lose their meaning.
Mother Angelica, however reminds me that it isn’t that kind of failure I must fear. There is a greater failure, and that is failing to trust in God more. If I give up now, I wouldn’t know what God could have done more through me.
When you feel like giving up, try to pause for a while and present everything to God. Tell Him how you feel. Cry to Him if you need to. If He could lay down His life for you, would He not understand your tears?
Remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Did it not look like a big failure then?
And we all know what happens after that. After Jesus kept trusting the Father. And after He never gave up.
“But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain.
I have spent my strength in vain for nothing;
yet surely the justice due to me is with the LORD,
and my reward with my God.’”
– Isaiah 49:4, WEBBE
“The role of a clown and a physician are the same?-?it’s to elevate the possible and to relieve suffering.”-Patch Adams
It is far easier to talk about suffering than to bear it. When we need to endure so much pain, sometimes all the knowledge we think we have seem to disappear. All that we can think about is how much we are hurting. It’s as though time passes by ever so slowly and our suffering would never end.
Where do we find relief from our suffering? How do we somehow alleviate the pain?
Here are some of the things that have helped me endure suffering:
1. Person
It is having that person whom you can depend upon that helps you endure the most difficult sufferings in life. Just knowing that you are not alone already lightens your heavy load. You endure the pain with them and for them. Many times, it is your concern for them that allows you to forget much of your sufferings because instead of focusing on them, you care about the people who love you and are there for you.
“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen
2. Perspective on Permanence
Much of my anxious thoughts come from the thought that my painful situation may never end. It is the permanence of the hurt that scares me and makes me lose my hope. Quite often, however, the difficulty I have is fleeting. It may seem like an eternity to me, but in truth, the pain doesn’t last and I am often given times of pause and rest.
“Only one principle will give you courage, that is the principle that no evil lasts for ever, nor indeed for very long.” – St. Epicuris
“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles.” – Charlie Chaplin
3. Purpose
We can endure many difficult things, including physical and emotional pain if we know the purpose behind our sufferings. Keeping the goal in mind, we muster the patience that would help us go on. We strengthen ourselves with the thought that our suffering isn’t meaningless, that it would instead yield some good.
“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.” – Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Final Words
No one knows the true taste of suffering except the person who has experienced it. When you are in pain, you cease to preach things you don’t really believe in. You face the hurt right where it is and you look for all the ways that could help alleviate your pain.
If you are in any difficulty at the moment, may you find some comfort right where you are. May there be people who could make you feel less alone. May there be some meaning you could hold on to. And may you have the hope to keep on believing that even the darkest night shall pass away.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller
