Life is Pain

A quote from The Princess Bride has been batting around my head the last few days.

“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

I feel this way lately.

Life is painful.

Too hard!

Then guilt sets in. I need to be more grateful. I need to focus on hope. I need to be optimistic.

I invalidate my right to be sad or mad at what’s going on in life.

I went back to the movie and thought about when this quote is said.

Wesley says this when he was the Dread Pirate Roberts.

After staving off death on a pirate ship, he came back to the mainland to find his betrothed, Buttercup, engaged to another.

And that guy’s paying to have her murdered!

And then he’s inches from Buttercup and she doesn’t recognize him.

He had a right to feel that way about life. It was crappy!

But here’s the thing about Wesley, he never does nothing.

His ship gets captured by pirates. He pleads for his life exclaiming true love. Then proceeds to learn swordsmanship, to gain knowledge, and inoculate himself to poison.

When he discovers the plot on Buttercup’s life, he doesn’t leave her to her doom. He rescues her in his pain.

He keeps putting one foot in front of the other until the end.

There, he gets to ride off with Buttercup on beautiful white horses.

He wouldn’t say life is pain in that moment I don’t think. His life carried more hope and promise then.

I think that’s true in all of our lives.

There are times when I think it’s okay for us to think, “Life is pain”. Because it can be!

What I think is important is that we keep walking. We keep learning. We keep loving.

Moments of hope will come as we step.

Optimism will seep into us as we strive.

Life might be pain right now.

But that doesn’t mean it always will be.