Guest post by Selene Lau. “You have a fractured bone in your wrist. It will need to be in a cast for about 6 weeks.” I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. I was not sure I was ready for one more thing. I had slipped and fallen clumsily on a wooden bridge at an outdoor family camp. Now I had to think about functioning without the use of my dominant hand.

The phrase “staying on the hurt line” is from a classmate's mom in a class I took at the beginning of summer: Art in a Time of Crisis. What does it mean to remain on the hurt line? Is it somewhere between joy and pain? Is it a bittersweet truth that life is both hard and beautiful? Yes, yes, and so much more.

The tensions and irreconcilable juxtapositions have purpose. Sometimes we receive glimpses of their gifts, but even if you never see their goodnesses this side of eternity, they do exist. Here’s my tribute to a year that could have taken me under, but I choose to see it for what it is on the flip side: blessing.

Pain. Hope. To marry the two can seem almost profane. To reconcile these realities, Isaiah 40 offers help.