Everything Sad Will Come Untrue

A Quiet Promise of Hope

Photo by Darya Karaliova on Unsplash

There’s something profoundly comforting in the phrase, “Everything sad will come untrue.” It’s poetic, isn’t it? Like something you’d hear at the end of a fairy tale when the hero or heroine has finally overcome the darkness. But let’s be honest—when you’re sitting in the middle of your sadness, when the weight of the world feels like it’s permanently pressed against your chest, it’s hard to believe. It sounds... idealistic, almost naive.

But what if it’s not? What if it’s the truest thing you’ll ever hear?

The Lingering Ache of Sadness

Sadness has this way of embedding itself into us. It’s sticky. It doesn’t just stay in one corner of your mind; it seeps into your memories, distorts your dreams, and makes you second-guess every good thing that comes your way.

Think about heartbreak. The loss of someone you loved deeply. It feels like the ache will never leave, right? You hear their name and flinch. You smell their perfume in a crowded room and feel the sharp sting of absence. Sadness tells you this is forever. That life will always have this dull gray filter over it.

Or take failure—the kind that shakes your identity. You worked hard, sacrificed, believed, and then... nothing. Maybe it’s a career that stalled, a friendship that withered, or a dream that feels more distant with each passing day. Sadness whispers, “This is it. You’re stuck here. Forever.”

But here’s the thing sadness doesn’t tell you: It’s not forever.

Sadness Is a Season, Not a Sentence

There’s this idea in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings—where this phrase originates—that the world is broken but not beyond repair. That somehow, despite all the darkness, there is a day coming when the sadness will not only end but will reverse.

And isn’t that the kind of hope we all need? Not just that the sadness will stop, but that it will somehow be transformed. That the tears we cry will water the seeds of something new, something better.

I don’t know where you’re at right now. Maybe you’re in the thick of it. Maybe you’ve just started to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Wherever you are, hold on to this: sadness is a season, not a sentence. It moves, it changes, it ends.

The Work of Unmaking Sadness

Of course, the phrase “everything sad will come untrue” doesn’t mean we sit back and wait for magic. It calls us to action.

We mend what we can. We forgive. We grieve. We move forward with hope, even when hope feels like the smallest, most fragile thing in the world.

Sometimes, it’s the smallest acts of resistance—calling a friend, taking a walk, saying a prayer—that remind us sadness doesn’t own us. That joy, however faint, still exists.

A Quiet Hope

Here’s the truth: sadness doesn’t have the final word. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, everything sad will come untrue.

The losses? Redeemed. The pain? Healed. The dreams? Restored.

And when that day comes, we’ll look back and realise that even in our sadness, there was a quiet promise woven into the fabric of life: that joy is always waiting, just around the bend.

So take heart, dear reader. The story isn’t over yet.

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What does “everything sad will come untrue” mean to you? Share your thoughts below—I’d love to hear.