Your cold mornings are filled with the heartache about the fact that although we are not at ease in this world, it is all we have, that it is ours but that it is full of strife, so that all we can call our own is strife; but even that is better than nothing at all, isn't it?  And as you split frost-laced wood with numb hands, rejoice that your uncertainty is God's will and His grace toward you and that that is beautiful, and part of a greater certainty, as your own father always said in his sermons to you at home.  And as the ax bites into the wood, be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it.  And when you resent the ache in your heart, remember: You will be dead and buried soon enough.

- From Tinkers, by Paul Harding.  I cannot tell you how much I love this book, the mesmerizing language and the way the words and the truth of it continue to ring in your head after you've finished it.  Don't do anything else, just read this book.