Now it rejoiceth, and now it bewaileth;
Now its hopes fructify, then they are blighted;
Now it walks sunnily, now gropes benighted;
Fed by discouragements, taught by disaster,
So it goes forward, now slower, now faster;
Till, all the pain past and failure made whole,
It is full grown, and the Lord rules the soul.
—Susan Coolidge.
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Life is too short to waste