Sadness Has A Refining Influence

On one of the days Brian and I were in Cody, Wyoming, we decided to take the recommended drive through the magnificent Beartooth Mountain ranges to Red Lodge, Montana.

I have never in my life, even in British Columbia, been on roads this windy that continually snakes around the different mountain ranges. I was glad Brian was driving because many times I had to close my eyes.

On the way back, we stopped at the Smith Mine Disaster monument. On February 27, 1943, seventy-four miners died from from an explosion deep underground. They were trapped with no way out. As a result they died of gas poisoning. Only three men who were close to the entrance of the mine survived.

That day fifty-eight women were left widows and one hundred twenty-five children were left fatherless.

The coal mining industry in the area came to an abrupt end. The towns of Bearcreek and Washoe vanished completely as homes were torn down, moved or abandoned. Today thousands of tons of coal still remain beneath the sage covered hills of Bearcreek, but above stand the decaying buildings of the Smith Mine as a sad reminder of the lives lost and their loved-ones grief.

However, for the men who knew God as their Lord and Saviour, the Bible says their death was better than the day they were born. And for those who were left-behind, the Bible says their sorrow was better than laughter for our times of sadness has a way of refining us and making our hearts better.

"And the day you die is better

than the day you are born.

Sorrow is better than laughter,

for sadness has a refining

influence on us."

Ecclesiastes 7:1,3 (NLT)