Life is difficult; that simple truth goes without saying.

Yet depending on one’s perspective, attitude, and current circumstances, life can sometimes feel more like treacherous, tumultuous, dark waters that threaten to overtake your being at every, gasping breath. Yes, life can be cruel and at some point in everyone’s life, they will feel the biting sense of foreboding at the base of the skull, or feel the tiny tears of tragedy embedding in their hearts. If you live long enough in this world of men and sin, of hate and greed, of pain and tragedy, it is inevitable that life will serve you a platter full of pain and make you eat every malignant morsel until you feel as if you cannot take any more.

Unfortunately, this is all true. And yet behind that seemingly innocuous line of simple truth that life isn’t easy, there truly is something more. Something that in more poetic terms is referred to as the proverbial ‘silver lining’, something that optimists and believers will somehow, often miraculously find behind the wreckage of our existence and focus on with round eyes, open hearts and and unfettered souls…. something that causing the badness to land in their periphery and remain there, out of focus and out of the light, so they can trudge on.

You see, that hope, that ability to see goodness is what makes humans truly amazing. Christians refer to this is having faith and living by the grace of God. Pragmatics refer to it as “whatever”, and give a cold shoulder to the pain. Eternal optimists know that at the next corner, on the next day or at some point in time, life will indeed get better.

I struggle with all of these. The faith, the optimism, and the realities of this world, almost daily. I wonder if many others do, as well; if there are others out there who try hard to see the light. I do try to see that silver lining in the clouds, even when it is pouring down rain all around me. And most days, I do find that hope inside that allows me to believe that life is, truly good and that the right-here, the right-now, is the only place to be.