It’s been said that suffering is guaranteed for anyone who takes on the arduous task of living – but have you ever considered how boring life would be if we had nothing with which to contrast joy? 

Would we even recognize it as joy? 

Part of the blessing of life’s journey is the realization that we’re human — that we weren’t created with the ability to avoid pain and suffering, but that we have within us the ability to overcome it. 

Maybe not always physically – ask anyone who suffers with severe chronic pain and they’ll tell you there’s no magic formula for overcoming that…the overcoming occurs in how we respond to it.

Anger, resentment, complaining, bitterness…are all completely expected responses to pain of any kind – it’s hard! But those mindsets do little to ease our physical or mental anguish.  

Let’s choose instead to look for – and physically write down – the good for which we are thankful. It’ll provide an incredible joy-producing boost of encouragement for those who are hurting. 

Today’s Peace of Wisdom can be found in choosing to be thankful in spite of the pain.