From the December 10th entry:

Are there not some in your circle to whom you naturally betake yourself in times of trial and sorrow? They always seem to speak the right word, to give the very counsel you are longing for; you do not realize, however, the cost which they had to pay ere they became so skillful in binding up the gaping wounds and drying tears. But if you were to investigate their past history you would find that they have suffered more than most. They have watched the slow untwisting of some silver cord on which the lamp of life hung. They have seen the golden bowl of joy dashed to their feet, and its contents spilt. They have stood by ebbing tides, and drooping gourds, and noon sunsets; but all this has been necessary to make them the nurses, the physicians, the priests of men… So suffering is rough and hard to bear; but it hides beneath it discipline, education, possibilities, which not only leave us nobler, but perfect us to help others. Do not fret, or set your teeth, or wait doggedly for the suffering to pass; but get out of it all you can, both for yourself and for your service to your generation, according to the will of God.

I think of several Saints whom God has sent our way to comfort us over the past two years. And when I think about them, several have suffered "more than most." As a matter of fact, some of them are still suffering today.

Oh dear God, may you not waste our pain. Please don't waste these trials which you have brought into our lives. Help us not to get lost in ourselves, but instead, to lose ourselves in You. Create in our broken hearts the ability to seek those around us that are hurting and may we sip a cool cup of water together, and remind each other of a day that is coming when you will make all things right.