I Love The Night

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  “It was a glorious night. The moon had sunk, and left the quiet earth alone with the stars. It seemed as if, in the silence and the hush, while we her children slept, they were talking with her, their sister — conversing of mighty mysteries in voices too vast and deep for childish human ears to catch the sound. They awe us, these strange stars, so cold, so clear. We are as children whose small feet have strayed into some dim-lit temple of the god they have been taught to worship but know not; and, standing where the echoing dome spans the long vista of the shadowy light, glance up, half hoping, half afraid to see some awful vision hovering there. And yet it seems so full of comfort and of strength, the night. In its great presence, our small sorrows creep away, ashamed. The day has been so full of fret and care, and our hearts have been so full of evil and of bitter thoughts, and the world has seemed so hard and wrong to us. Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays ...

malis mala succedunt

"troubles are followed by troubles."

In Japanese, they say, “when crying, stung by bee.” The point of these expressions is to capture an unfortunate reality of life: that what can go wrong will… and often all at the same time.

So during this COVID-19 quarantine, things are just that. 
  • I've lost my job after 19 years
  • I am no longer a doctoral student.
  • The State has removed our niece from our home after yet another suicide attempt and has put us in a horrible position. Good thing we have friends and documentation of her history.
  • Stay-at-home orders are in effect.
We can't control the storm but we can control how we respond to it. 
Yes, I mourn a little every day, but only when I'm not busy and start dwelling on what I can't control or change.
  • God has me in a place where I have nothing or nobody to depend on but Him.
  • I can now update my resume and my office is clean.
  • I know who my real friends are (trouble has a way of sifting people).
  • My wife can still finish her degree online.
  • Niece is now getting the help we've been trying to get for months and months and months. 
"If you’re only prepared for a few, isolated and tiny things to go wrong, you’re going to be rudely surprised by how often difficulties come in pairs or triplets or entire litters. If you think life is going to be one lucky break after another, you’re going to be rudely surprised when, to quote Seneca, fortune decides to behave exactly as she pleases." (Ryan Holiday)

Disarm trouble by preparing your mind beforehand so when it comes, you are ready. Just don't make it worse by doing something stupid.

The world is a different place.

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