Sorrow is a Blessing...

"Earth has no sorrow heaven cannot heal."

I like this quote, it gives me hope and it got me pondering what sorrow really means to me. Initially, I felt that sorrow is something to avoid at all costs. Yet, to avoid sorrow,  I'd have to avoid caring...about anything or anybody.  Because if I care then I open myself to sorrow.  If I don't care, I live a shadow life, so I do not want to avoid feeling sorrow.  But on the other hand...

no normal person wishes to suffer loss of any kind, right?  But loss and sorrow are part of life.  People leave us, disappoint us, exploit us.  Things wear out, get stolen, lost.  We'll never get away without experiencing it and maybe...just maybe it's best that we don't because...

sorrow is necessary.  Yes, you heard me right!  

Sorrow teaches us many lessons that we might not learn otherwise.  Some of those lessons are:

• Empathy - there is nothing like having gone through a similar loss to sympathize with others
• Priorities - it is so easy to fill our time being consumed with non-important and irrelevant things until we lose something or someone significant.  Sadly, this is often a lesson taught the hard way.
• Brevity - in loss we discover how short time really is and how important it is to not waste our minutes.  Again, another lesson often learned the hard way.
• Humility -  it is so easy to feel chosen by God and grow arrogant when we haven't suffered a great loss.  Sorrow knows no boundaries. It is not biased.  No one is immune to it.
• Value - this is a kissing cousin to priorities, but I felt it deserved it's own place on this list. Sorrow teaches us to value and take care of those things and people who matter most, knowing that nothing lasts forever.
• Gratitude - this is the most important lesson as it encompasses all the others.  Sorrow teaches us to fully appreciate and thank God for our blessings.  Gratitude helps us set priorities, be humble, value our gifts, realize how little time we have and empathize with others.  It is the ointment that heals our wounds and gives us hope, thus the meaning behind...

"Earth has no sorrow heaven cannot heal."

This is my list.  I'm sure you, Faithful Reader, can think of even more reasons why sorrow is necessary.  Please share as I always look for ways to become more enlightened.