"Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule." - J.R.R. Tolkein“I have come to believe that this is worth knowing, not only for teachers, but for everyone. If you get a little depressed during those dreary days, do not begin to think that you're psycho-something-or-other.
For missionaries, this was well worth knowing. Occasionally a missionary told me in an interview, ‘I'm not doing very well. I just seem to be depressed and discouraged.’ Unless there was an unusual reason for these feelings, my answer was, ‘Well, I'm glad to hear that. At least now we know that you're normal. Enjoy the feeling—it probably won't last. And the first sunny day will do wonders for it.’
We know from the Book of Mormon that there must be opposition. ‘For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.’ (2 Nephi 2:11.)
It helps a great deal if we realize that there is a certain healthy element in getting the blues occasionally. It is quite in order to schedule a good, discouraging, depressing day every now and again just for contrast.” (Elder Boyd K. Packer, "Teach Ye Diligently", p. 101–2)
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