When the universe speaks….

I heard a beautiful quote in church yesterday…  As the story goes, the famous painter Renior was painting in his studio, late in his life.  He had found some success, had contributed to the world in a rare and wonderful way. At this point, he also had crippling arthritis.  Every stroke was an effort that came with incredible pain.  A friend watching this painstaking process asked him why he does it. Why would he continue to paint? The answer was profound, “The pain passes, but the beauty remains”. 

I can’t stop thinking about this and how true it can be for many of the painful things we experience.  The pain of failing, before we finally succeed, the pain of disease before we find health or the pain of a difficult journey…before we get to the beautiful destination. 

The pain passes, eventually…. the pain passes.

I think this is such an incredible truth to consider. We all tend to think that whatever it is that is happening, is everything.  That it will always be. We forget that life is dynamic and that most things do pass.  Somehow this ties with patience, my arch nemesis.  To bear our pain and our challenges with patience can help us get to the beauty that is often right beneath the pain we are experiencing.  Our thoughts can be critical to this.  The thoughts we hold while doing the hard things in our lives can allow us to feel the pain, process the pain and then to let go of it.  So that we really can find the beauty that remains.  

I have such love and respect for artists, and their perspective on the world.  They help us see things differently, to come at our everyday life with new perspectives.  As I’m writing this, the song Here Comes the Sun has started playing. The universe seems to be blasting me with this message today.  

I’m listening!