These words from a recent Richard Rohr blog struck me:
'Life is hard, and yet Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28).
It is hard to bear God—but it is even harder not to bear God. The pain one brings upon oneself by living outside of evident reality is a greater and longer-lasting pain than the brief pain of facing it head on. Enlightened people invariably describe the spiritual experience of God as resting, peace, delight, and even ecstasy.
If our religion has no deep joy and no inherent contentment about it, then it is not the real thing.
It is God within us that loves God, so seek joy in God and peace within; seek to rest in the good, the true, and the beautiful.
If our soul is at rest in the comforting sweetness and softness of God, we can bear the hardness of life and see through failure.'