We all know that some days can be full of peace and happiness, while other days seem to be unrelentingly hard. As one six-year-old so wisely said, “You can have a no problem day, but you can’t have a no problem life.”[1]
What can we learn from this simple observation? Maybe one takeaway is that it doesn’t do much good to count up our good days and bad days. Life wasn’t meant to be a worry-free ride, and if our happiness depends on the absence of problems, most days will be disappointing.
What if, rather than dividing our lives into sunny days and rainy days, we saw life as one continuous cycle of seasons—where the rain is just as needed as the sunshine. Of course, some moments are especially joyous, like the birth of a child, but this joy comes only after the stress—even the pain—of labor and delivery. When that child grows and eventually leaves home, we might feel a bit of heartbreak, but only because of the sweet memories we made over the years—memories we wouldn’t trade for anything. Thus the joy and the sadness, the bitter and the sweet depend on one another. Endings give way to beginnings just as beginnings give way to endings.
As much as we might want to skip over the tragedies and hold onto the triumphs, we can’t have one without the other. So, we come to appreciate the stark beauty of a snow-white winter, while also rejoicing when the snow melts and gives way to a glorious spring. After a long, hot summer, we welcome the brisk colors of fall, even as we recognize that those colors mean another winter is on its way. And the cycle continues.
Sure, we’re thankful for the occasional, no-problem day. But we also know that good days are temporary and bad days, in time, become better. This larger perspective helps us carry on and hope on. No, none of us will have a no-problem life, but if we can learn to savor both the bitter and the sweet, we can still create a good life.
[1] Max Kenyon, in “Cougar Query: ‘You Will Find What You’re Looking for, So Look for the Good,” BYU News, Sept. 27, 2022, news.byu.edu.
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March 05, 2023
Broadcast Number 4,877
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
Conductors
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Brian Mathias
Host
Lloyd Newell
Saints Bound for Heaven
American folk hymn; Arr. Mack Wilberg
Be Thou My Vision
traditional Irish hymn; Arr. Mack Wilberg
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
Irish melody; Arr. Brian Mathias
Hallelujah Chorus, from Christ on the Mount of Olives
Ludwig van Beethoven
For the Beauty of the Earth
Conrad Kocher; Arr. Mack Wilberg
What a Wonderful World
George David Weiss and Bob Thiele; Arr. Mack Wilberg
High on the Mountain Top
Ebenezer Beesley; Arr. Mack Wilberg