"In times of adversity, make energetic progress in the good. This is still the real work at hand: for each of us to meet the bad in the world with the good in our hearts." Elizabeth Lesser

The last couple of years have taught us much about adversity. On reflection, every generation is confronted with a share of hardship and our times are not unique. In the stories of older friends as well as contemporaries, it can often be seen how the most tender and beautiful moments are also sewn with the threads of poignancy. The greatest soulfulness, the deepest appreciation of the purpose in being alive, arrives dressed in the cloth of bittersweet. When life is the most overwhelming, there still exists an equal capacity for all things good and whole. In those dark moments our ability to experience life deeply and profoundly quickens and rises, available for the asking, to carry us on. Out of the remains of hurt and disappointment and fear, we are able to create love, truth and beauty. Something to remember when wrestling like Jacob did, with what may turn out to be an angel unaware.