Lessons of the Year

For I learn as the years roll onward

   And leave the past behind,

That much I have counted sorrow

   But proves that our God is kind;

That many a flower I longed for

   Had a hidden thorn of pain,

And many a rugged by-path

   Led to fields of golden grain.

We must live through the dreary winter

   To value the bright warm spring;

The woods must be cold and silent

   Before the robins sing;

The flowers must be buried in darkness

   Before they can bud and bloom,

And the purest and warmest sunshine

   Comes after the storm and gloom.

So the heart from the hardest trial

   Gain the purest joy of all,

And the lips that have tasted sadness

   The sweetest songs that fall.

Then as joy comes after sorrow,

   And love’s the reward of pain,

So after earth is heaven,

   And out of our loss is gain.

– Anonymous