Smiles and Sorrow

I used to think, believe, that lips turned up causing eyes to crinkle and joy making its way through laughter could not live in the same space as the body that aches with sadness, tears that weep through the pores.

To me, they lived in separate spaces. They were heard in different instruments of different songs.

The day that my daughter told me that I was indeed sad even though I had just laughed, I learned something.

Tears and sorrow, smiles and laughter live together. They are the same cord on a guitar, the same key on a pianos ivories.

The blending of what is sorrow and what is joy, is what makes life.

Behind the smiles is a story of brokenness.

Within the tears of heartache, lies a joy of life that lived.

The blending of it all, all of life, is what makes glorious sound. It is what gives beauty to life.

Stephanie