How many of us have gone through hardship and heartache only to find that at the end of our difficulties laid well, more difficulties? Life has a way of testing us, pushing us to and beyond the limits of what we think we can bear, accept or tolerate. At times like these, it seems as though our cups are dangerously overflowing with hard-hitting challenges. Surely, we don’t need another thing to struggle with, agonize about, account for, surrender to or resolve. And though the holy books promise that there’s a silver lining in all of our suffering, who among us can find the pedagogical value in adversity when faced with prolonged periods of despair? If you’re like me, the hurt’s just too overwhelming to be neatly reasoned away.

And yet, to hear the old wise ones tell it, “trouble don’t last always and joy comes in the morning.” How could our elders and ancestors come to such a remarkable truth whilst living through tragedies that were generational in scope and scale? Our enslaved forebears, though wounded by life’s ubiquitous horrors, still managed to learn the greatest of spiritual laws – that Love Always Wins. For them, the dawning joy that arose at the end of the soul’s dark night offered living proof of this law.

Now if people who were force-fed a steady diet of brutality could come to believe in the omnipotence of love, then surely we can as well. Accomplishing this requires that we set aside our disbelieving hearts and minds to look beneath the surface of life’s traumas. Of course this is not easy because everyday we are bombarded with a million ugly realities like betrayal by people we trust, the loss of loved ones, the onset of disease, chronic financial distress, persistent racism, continuing conflict in the Middle East, the ominous threat of global warming etc. And the pain that we experience from each of these challenging circumstances is often emotionally, if not physically, crippling. It’s hard to survive under the weight of such heaviness without strong spiritual support.

Fortunately for us, the support we need can be accessed through our understanding of the LAW. The LAW tells us that love, as the manifest expression of God, has no rival despite any appearances to the contrary. Eventually defeat gives way to deliverance either through changes in our consciousness or in our circumstances.

No one understood this truth better than our ancestors, most of whom yearned for a freedom that they never knew. Despite this, they maintained faith that one day their descendants would live as human beings rather than as slavery’s chattel. Their conviction gave rise to acts of courage, resistance movements, aid societies, schools, art forms, enduring social customs, and spiritual practices that continue to uplift our people today. In response to life’s injustices, they developed a consciousness of hope and a hard work ethic that laid the foundation for the freedom we currently experience. Their faith and effort enabled love to win through them, though it bore its fruits for us.

To be certain, love’s victories are not instantaneous. They may take years and lifetimes to manifest because transmuting base energies like hate and fear into compassion and love requires major overhauls of human beliefs and behaviors. So for those of us who are life’s walking wounded, love’s progress may seem so gradual as to be unapparent. This is when it’s useful to remember that change often begins in humble, inconspicuous ways and that we humans barely notice it until it’s glaring and well established. Whether we see it or not, however, change is a basic law of the universe and in the long run, it moves life towards that which is highest and best for the good of the whole. Of course, what’s best for the whole, and the individuals who comprise it, is always love. For this reason, we can take comfort in the fact that no matter how desperate or desolate our life situations, if they have not been resolved in love, then God is still working on them and us.