Joyful Ruins

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” – Tolkien

In my last post, I wrote about the reality of grief and how it changes you.

This quote reminds me that grief is not the only shaping agent in this world. Love is working equally as powerfully and God is love.

Is it not those who have suffered the most who seem to have learned to love the greatest?

Why is that?

I believe there is something about peril, darkness, grief, that opens up a door to love and light that no other human experience does

Grief leads us to compassion. It leads us to see and feel the pain of others.

Isn’t living in this world grief mingled with love?

It is a broken home with pain and suffering. This is a truth and reality for our lives. And yet, love came down in the form of Jesus and touched this world, changed this world through His own grief and suffering.

There is a mysterious intermingling of grief and love, especially in our Savior. He knew grief to a depth none of us ever will and it was His grief that often drew Him to love more.

I know grief may only seem like an evil to you right now but I believe there is a Christ like quality for those who have experienced grief mingled with love. The two do not cancel each other out, but in God’s upside down ways, they compliment each other and are much needed in this broken world.