What Have I Learned?

Looking back on a Labor Day Weekend that was in no way what I thought it would be, there have been ample hours for contemplation (getting at best 3 hours of sleep from 6am Friday to 1am Sunday will do that). Not all are borne directly out of the tragedy, but others are. No answers to The Question in trying times, but a few random thoughts to share.
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1) Hospital staff have an amazingly tough job. They are often the thankless bearers of bad news, yet are expected to be loving, compassionate, strong people. In the time I was waiting with friends in the ICU, the staff was courteous and kind around very fragile people.

2) Life is precious. As in, of unimaginable, indescribable value. We all say this in times when we see it gone, but then the lesson sinks in as the days once more blur into a watercolor of everyday activities. Tomorrow, I go back to work and the routine that can sap years from people who never look up to experience the life that is slowly ticking away.

3) Smiles do not a happy person make. Sometimes a smiling person is hiding deeper, darker pains than you'd ever guess. Sometimes, that smiling guy is going through a private hell you'd never guess.

4) There isn't time in life to hold petty grudges. Using the aforementioned precious life to hold something against someone else is foolish. You never know when the option to make up with someone will be gone, and if they go the thing that seemed so important to you suddenly is nothing, but a huge nothing you'll wish you had resolved.

5) Words fail. Don't put too much faith in them.

6) Be real. There will come times when you are revealed for who you are, and no facade will withstand reality. So don't talk about loving others. Do it, and you'll be ready when your talk is put to the test.

7) There is suffering in the world you probably can't imagine. You'd probably be ashamed to mention your difficulties in the presence of those who are living through hells your nightmares scarcely touch. But no one can tell you to get over yourself. It's something you have to realize and choose, and no admonitions otherwise will ever penetrate it.

8) That doesn't mean that your own struggles aren't real. But perspective helps.

9) I serve a God who brings tremendous blessing through unimaginable tragedy. From the death of the Son of God, God brought salvation to mankind. There is NO tragedy so deep that God is unable to bring about overflowing good. The bad is not good, but God can use the bad to bring about the good.

10) At the end of the day, I don't think I was weeping for the pain and the sadness anymore, but for the joy of knowing that even in the pain and sadness, God overcomes.