your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding
even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain
and could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy
and you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields
and you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief
much of your pain is self-chosen
it is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self
therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility
for his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the unseen
and the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the
potter has moistened with his own sacred tears
kahlil gibran
