Life is a series of lessons, some of them obvious, some of them not.

We learn as we go that dreams end, that plans get changed, that promises get broken, that our idols can disappoint us.

 We learn that there is such a thing as human support and that there is also such a thing as paralyzing isolation.

We learn that life is a balancing act lived between the poles of unreasonable hope on one hand and disheartening disquiet on the other.

We learn these things but we do not always understand them.

Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope

Joan D. Chittister  (page one)