With Easter just past, it's a good time to reflect on these hope-filled words that C.S. Lewis wrote for his wife's memorial plaque: 

Here the whole world (stars, water, air,
And field, and forest, as they were
Reflected in a single mind)
Like cast off clothes was left behind
In ashes, yet with hope that she,
Re-born from holy poverty,
In Lenten lands, hereafter may
Resume them on her Easter Day.

(And don't miss the sobering but inspiring reflections at the link I provided above.)