I used this quote as a header some time ago, so this is a redux of sorts but worth using again. It’s easier said than done. Today I’m reading an interview by Tunku Varadarajan with a gentleman named Francesco Lotoro, a self-commissioned archivist dedicated to preserving the music pieces written by Jewish composers. I believe the bulk of them, over 10,000 musical scores, originated within the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. There’s even a “60 Minutes” interview that was aired in the early 2020’s. I’m compelled to seek it out. If you can get access to this written interview published in the Wall Street Journal I highly recommend it. That such beautiful music can come from the most dreadful of conditions is testimony to perseverance.

The novelty of it all is entirely new to me and yet in a generic sense it reminds me of so many instances when I’ve observed courage and strength helped others live above their circumstances and foster beauty in the midst of it all. My own experience during a time of what I’m told and believe is the most tortuous loss imaginable, the loss of your child, somehow emboldened me to express my feelings in poetry and verse that I had not previously felt or shared as freely. I’ll bet many of you out there have found solace rising out of your own unimaginable circumstances.

Even as I write on this cool and cloudy day I look out the window of my sunroom and notice a splash of sunlight about a mile off against the side of a distant mountain. I’m thinking how nice to see it in contrast to both the local weather and the story lines in the interview when suddenly our mountainside is enveloped in bright and embracing sunlight that bathes my eyes and my thoughts with pleasure and an appreciation that despite and within our most difficult seasons of life, we can experience goodness and positivity. Happiness comes from our circumstances, but joy comes from somewhere else. We need to try and live above them as best we can when we can. Enjoy the sunbaths when they appear, (for the clouds can again quickly appear), persevere through adversities until which time when ….. well, I can’t speak for anyone else about when that happens and what it will look like. But I do know that “things will get better”. It might get better on its own or it might get better because of what you or someone else did in your midst during those dark and difficult times. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your path straight. Do not be wise in your own mind and keep yourself free from sin. It will be healthy for your body and refreshment to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)