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Hope after loss is usually quiet. It might be as small as looking forward to tomorrow's tea, laughing at a memory, or noticing the light on the garden for the first time in weeks.
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Feeling hopeful does not mean the grief is over, or that you have stopped caring. Most people's grief does not shrink so much as life slowly grows around it, until there is room for both sorrow and joy.
These words are for the days when you need a reminder that gentler times can come.
Hope often grows from tiny, repeated things: a short walk, a call to a friend, a plant on the windowsill. Be patient with how slowly it can come.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
— Psalm 147:3 (KJV)Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.
— Helen KellerYou can miss them and still be glad you are here. Both can live in one heart.
— The Quiet LightA journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
— After Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 64Verily, with hardship comes ease.
— Qur'an 94:5–6Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.
— Marcus Aurelius, MeditationsWhen we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
— Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for MeaningAs a person puts aside worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so the soul sets aside a worn-out body.
— After the Bhagavad Gita, 2.22Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
— Søren KierkegaardNo mud, no lotus.
— Thich Nhat HanhAnd God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying.
— Revelation 21:4 (KJV)Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
— Kahlil Gibran, The ProphetSay good morning to a neighbour, a bird, a plant. Connection can start very small.
— The Quiet LightIt does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.
— Attributed to ConfuciusAll shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
— Julian of NorwichWhen you rise in the morning, remember what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
— After Marcus Aurelius, MeditationsFinding meaning after loss does not mean the loss was worth it. It means we carry love forward.
— After David KesslerOne who does good never comes to a bad end.
— After the Bhagavad Gita, 6.40In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
— Albert CamusA cloud never dies. It becomes rain, and then the river, and then the tea in your cup.
— After Thich Nhat HanhWeeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
— Psalm 30:5 (KJV)The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
— Kahlil Gibran, The ProphetEvery tear waters something. One day, you may be surprised by what grows.
— The Quiet LightOur greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
— Oliver GoldsmithWhere there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
— Prayer attributed to St. Francis of AssisiWhile we are postponing, life speeds by.
— Seneca, LettersGrief does not shrink so much as life slowly grows around it.
— After Lois Tonkin's model of "growing around grief"Lead me from the unreal to the real; lead me from darkness to light; lead me from death to immortality.
— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.
— Baruch SpinozaTo every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
— Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.
— Emily DickinsonA memory that makes you smile through tears is a gift, not a wound.
— The Quiet LightShared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
— Swedish proverbHope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
— Desmond TutuNo great thing is created suddenly.
— Epictetus, DiscoursesMany people find, in time, that loss has deepened their compassion and their sense of what matters.
— After post-traumatic growth research (Tedeschi & Calhoun)A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
— Ecclesiastes 3:4 (KJV)Into each life some rain must fall.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Rainy DayHope does not have to be loud. It can be as small as looking forward to tomorrow's tea.
— The Quiet LightThis too shall pass.
— Persian adageEven if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
— Attributed to Martin LutherGratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
— After CiceroRejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation.
— Romans 12:12 (KJV)In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
— Robert FrostOne day, remembering will bring more warmth than pain. That day can come slowly.
— The Quiet LightIt is always darkest just before the day dawneth.
— Thomas FullerEven in hardship, keep the spirit rising in hope.
— After the Sikh teaching of Chardi KalaHis compassions fail not. They are new every morning.
— Lamentations 3:22–23 (KJV)Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.
— Rabindranath TagoreLaughter after loss is not betrayal. It is love, still alive in you.
— The Quiet LightBroken places, mended with gold, become part of the beauty.
— After the Japanese art of kintsugiI will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
— Psalm 121:1 (KJV)Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.
— Attributed to RumiSpring does not ask winter for permission. Gentler days will come back on their own.
— The Quiet LightNo one ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river, and they are not the same person.
— After HeraclitusLove bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
— After 1 Corinthians 13:7–8The wound is the place where the light enters you.
— Attributed to RumiThe sun rose this morning without needing you to be ready. Let it do some of the work.
— The Quiet LightHowever long the night, the dawn will break.
— African proverbA merry heart doeth good like a medicine.
— Proverbs 17:22 (KJV)Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.
— Attributed to Walt WhitmanYou are still writing your story. This chapter is hard, but it is not the last.
— The Quiet LightTo give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning.
— Isaiah 61:3 (KJV)Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
— Anne FrankWhat you love is worth living for, and part of what you love is still here.
— The Quiet LightThe Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
— Psalm 23:1–2 (KJV)Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
— Martin Luther King Jr.Neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.
— After Romans 8:38–39No feeling is final.
— After Rainer Maria RilkeWhy art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God.
— Psalm 42:11 (KJV)A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.
— John KeatsFor I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
— Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV)
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