Sometimes

"Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies?" — Erich Fromm

I needed to stumble upon this quote today. Not because I've ever truly suffered. I haven't. I've never lost a child, battled a horrible disease, or lived in great pain.

I needed it because sometimes the effort of life is just a little more than I feel like I can handle. Sometimes the tightrope between grace and preservation is covered in muck. Though we're called to forgive, sometimes I wrestle with how to live in the gray area of being unable to forget. Sometimes the answer to the prayer is not to yield and it takes a great deal of discipline to remain firm.

Sometimes I need to take more time to bask in the sweet smell of a freshly bathed child. Sometimes I need to drink the rays from a warm spot of sun. Sometimes I need to remind myself that it just takes one happy moment of love to make the challenges of life tolerable.

Sometimes I have to repeat, a little more frequently, "This. Is. Worth. It."