Day 036 of 90 · Emotions
Sadness Can Teach Me Something
12–15 minutes
Center · Stillness
Settle in
Put the phone down. Take one slow breath, and say: “God, I am here. Speak, I am listening.”
Read · The passage
Scripture
It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.
Psalm 119:71, BSB
Learn · Reflection
Reflection
Sadness does not always mean that something is wrong with you. Some hard experiences can also teach us sensitivity, empathy and compassion. God can walk with you through the most painful moments and help you grow with more hope, more strength and more love through what you are living.
C. S. Lewis went through seasons of deep sadness after losing people who mattered to him. There were stretches when he felt pain, doubt and a great deal of emotional confusion.
During that time he began to write more about what he was feeling, about faith, and about the way people move through suffering.
Over time he understood something important: although pain is never pleasant, some hard experiences can also teach us deep lessons about love, compassion and hope. Sadness can make us more sensitive to other people's pain and help us value even more what really matters.
That does not mean God is glad about our suffering. It means that even in the hard moments, He is still forming something good inside us.
There are emotions that make us stop, think and grow in ways we might never have imagined. And even when we do not understand everything, God is still walking with us through every stage of the process.
Talk · Conversation
Talk about it
C. S. Lewis wrote about his own pain and learned from it. Looking back at a sadness you have already come through, what did it teach you about other people's pain?
Thank · Gratitude
Give thanks
Today I thank God for something good that grew inside me during a hard season, which was…
Ask · Prayer
Pray together
God, there is pain I would not choose to live through again, and it still taught me a great deal. Keep forming something good inside me while the ache is still here.
Begin · Application
Carry it into the day
Today, look for someone going through something close to what you have already suffered, and offer one concrete kind of help: sit with them, listen, stay.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible. Public domain (CC0)