A year or so ago, I was on a plane, traveling alone, flying back home from a trip. The trip had been fun and very productive, but all I wanted at that time was to land at the airport and return to the comforts of home, my family, and my bed. On this particular night, the sky was extra dark, and there were storms brewing in the atmosphere. Looking out the little window next to me, I could not see much, but what I could see were eerie looking clouds surrounding by even more brooding darkness. There was no light from the ground. As the time came to begin our descent, we hit the storm, and turbulence, in full force. Lights slowly started to come into blurred view as our plane strayed from its planned course and began circling the city, and I thought to myself; "There are so little lights down there, and there is so much darkness- how is our plane going to find that one little runway?" Somehow, despite being surrounded by darkness and pounding rain and feeling like the plane would never make it home, the tell tale sparks of runway flares came in to clear sight, and the wheels finally made contact with the ground.
Like the flares on the runway that guided the plane to its destination, there are several forms of light in our lives that guide us in the right direction.
In life, we collide with times of great darkness, and our destination is lost from our sight. Whether it be a traumatic event, the loss of a loved one, the feeling of hopelessness of depression, the feeling of drowning in anxiety, the cloudy feeling in the brain from high levels of stress- the list could go on forever, we all have things in life that threaten to block our view and steal the light. Looking through our small, dark and clouded point of view, there may not be any sign of hope or resolution. This is often because, like the small window on the plane, our vision is blocked and preventing us from seeing from the big picture. As troubles in life hit us full force, they can cause our lives to derail from the planned course and stray from the path of where we want to be. In the thick of it all, we may think; "There is so much darkness surrounding me- how am I ever going to get through this?" Things can be so bleak, yet somehow light finds its way in to the darkness, and guides us back to the right path.
When light pierces through darkness, it is a force that is almost impossible to contend with. Since we were born, light is one of the most powerful forms of stimuli that we receive, and it can overpower almost any other thing that is in its way... including darkness. Light can take on many forms in our lives. Light can come in the form of a good night's sleep- refreshing the mind and the body to take on the world again. It can flood our lives in the form of a person checking in on us, going out of their way to help us out. It can come in the form of a hug, a text, a good cry, a deep breath in and out. It can come in the form of a prayer up to God, or a prayer from another person. Cling to them. Embrace the good that they bring.
As a final thought, here are some very poignant lyrics from one of my favorite pieces of choral music, "Light of a Clear Blue Morning', arranged by Craig Hella Johnson.
It's been a long dark night
And I've been a waitin' for the morning
It's been a long hard fight
But I see a brand new day a dawning
I've been looking for the sunshine
'Cause I ain't seen it in so long
But everything's gonna work out just fine
Everything's gonna be all right
When the world is closing in on you and things are getting dark and bleak, always remember that somewhere out there, there is a light that will guide you back home.
