Sufi teacher, philosopher, and poet Rumi said, “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” This is true. For being brokenhearted can bring you into that realization that you’re indeed is a human being — fragile and vulnerable; an earthen vessel that can crack and shatter, in one blow of the hand of life. And you have no other choice but to endure the pain and mend and heal your broken heart and spirit, until you are ready to face the world again.
Yes, my dear — You have no other choice, but to rise from your own ashes, to make yourself strong — as strong as a formidable fortress that protects the city from invaders — and make yourself a tower that even the lightning and the rain cannot shatter, nor make it stumble.
But why can’t we just be happy and never to feel loneliness and dismay and forlorn? It’s not the Way of Life, my dear. Life, in itself, is hard and sometimes, unbearable. Just like what the Prince of Shakya has said, “Life in itself is suffering.”
Even if it was painful, suffering is a fire that purifies and strengthens you. After all, diamonds and gold are made beautiful by the intense heat of the earth and the hearth. Silver and other metals are purified by fire. Earthen pots are strengthened by burning embers. There’s no other way, my dear, for you to shine but to be under fire.
Besides, your pain is a Teacher teaching you how to appreciate life and joy and happiness and tranquility more. For your pain is the key that opens your heart and soul to the miracles of the Universe, whether you believe it or not. Just like what Almustafa, The Prophet said:
“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.”
As you undergo pain and suffering in this life, always remember that nothing in this world is permanent. Your pain is like rain clouds — after it poured it self out, it will vanish and the darkness will be gone. Pain and suffering are like mists. There will come a time that they will evaporate and become part of the wind that guides and assists your frail wings so that you can soar, up into the blue and wide sky during summer and spring.
This is the Wisdom of Life:
That everything happens in its proper time.
You are sorrowful today for you are being prepared for a banquet of happiness and joy the morrow.
As the Preacher said:
What benefit does the worker gain from what he undertakes? I have observed the burdens placed by God on human beings in order to perfect them. He made everything appropriate in its time. He also placed eternity within them — yet, no person can fully comprehend what God is doing from beginning to end.
