Kahlil Gibran, was an incredibly gifted writer, who has provided us through his writing with beautiful insights to go along with his inspiring wisdom. In his book, Jesus the Son of Man, Gibran reads the Beatitudes and paraphrases a particular sentence of it, as follows: “Blessed are they who remember their pain, and in their pain await their joy.”
When it comes to Holy Scripture it is important for us to be able to read such in a way and manner that not only renews and reinvigorates scriptural passages for us, but also when done astutely, to thus take us to a different level of insight into what has so been written for our edification and for our benefit. The Beatitudes so stated by our Messiah, are not meant to be quickly glanced at or read in a rote-like manner, thereby to be pretty much forgotten when we soon get back to our everyday activities and routines; but rather these Beatitudes are provided to help inspire us to become better people as well as to aid us in getting a renewed perspective about that which we so see, hear, and look upon.
There are plenty of people that do suffer pain and disappointment, of the physical, of the mental, and of the spiritual. Most of those people, complain about their pain, and virtually all of these people remember their pain; of which, some of those same people, dwell upon such pain over and over again, without bothering to take the corresponding necessary steps to learn relevant lessons from such. The point of pain as well as of disappointment is never meant to make us to suffer endlessly and without any real lesson to such; but rather pain and disappointment should be always seen as a “wakeup” call for us to respond to in a positive, correcting, and productive manner. That is to say, when we place our hand too close to something that is burning hot, we feel the pain of that flame, thereby signaling to our hand to remove itself from that which is causing the pain; in which, if that pain response did not happen not only would we suffer more from that lack of feedback, but we also would be susceptible to making the same sort of mistake in the future, for not remembering well that pain.
So too, it is necessary for us to suffer pain as well as disappointment, because having suffered so, we appreciate more the beauty and the joy of that success when we eventually overcome such. In other words, sometimes we have to take a wrong step in order not only to get back on the correct pathway, but also to appreciate the value of being on the right pathway to begin with. So too, it is important to see this world as not only a continual learning experience, but also as a true “proving ground;” of which, each of us is challenged to utilize our free will in a way and manner, that we will voluntarily choose that which is of positive value over that which is negative. There are many that believe, such a choice as that to make is easy, but in actuality, it really is not; for our selfish ego will entice us with all sorts of temptations, in which, many of us, so believe that we can give in to those temptations, and not only be happy but remain of good character, only alas to find ourselves soon enough, feeling regret, disappointment, and shame.
We need to remember our pain, and our mistakes, for in this remembrance comes the determination to do better, so as to be a better and a more complete person, of which, when we achieve that success, we truly appreciate having overcome the travails to get there, which provides us with the appreciation of that joy, fully earned.