Cloudy with Sunshine to Follow

Darkness can only go away when there is light to banish it. The shadows can hide the unknown, but when light is shined into the dark places the fear of the unknown is taken away due to the unknown diminishing. The world has always known fear, uncertainty, and lack of trust. We hear things on the news and go to social media to confirm it. We look at someone who looks a certain way and we cross to the other side of the street. We hear something about someone or some business and think the worst. Instead of looking for the good we navigate to the ugly, the bad. We live in our darkness.

Some live it the grey, it is still a form of darkness. It is like the clouds that appear from seemingly nowhere to block the sun. Our town is known for this type of thing. We step out to beautiful sunshine to have clouds cover it minutes late with a downpour to follow, with sunshine seen just a little ways off. When we live in a grey world we want to have the light but still feel the need to see the world with mistrust. In the last few days there have been awful things that have happened. Lives have been lost and the people that loved the lost have had their lives changed forever. People who were blissfully living in the sunshine, were thrust into the cover of darkness like clouds being blown in by the wind.

In our darkness we need to look for our light. Faith helps guide us, love will sustain us and joy will give us the strength to make it. The little pops of light along the way will bring the warmth needed to defrost us. So how do we find our light? Look for the little things, they will get us over the big things we are battling. This morning I woke up to my Charlie dog so happy to see us awake. She is kenneled at night and when she is let out in the morning she grabs a toy, jumps on the bed and prances around unable to control the wiggle of her tail. She is the light. While at work on Friday I noticed the poppies had started to bloom. These flowers are bright and orange and are the light. My daughter worked really hard on a project, she was given an opportunity to do more with it. We as a family got to celebrate with her and encourage her. That is the light. A coworker had helped in a difficult appointment, when it finished we realized we needed to talk about it which helped us both deal with what happened. That was light shining through.

To me these are the rays of light shining through the storm I am in. My neighbors storm is different than mine and so his rays of light will be different as well. Both of our storms will bring forth life and light. We can appreciate the strength of the storm by seeing the outcome of it. So live because there is no other choice. Go out knowing that storms will come, darkness is there but so is the sun and light. Brighten some person’s day. When you can be the light for someone else, darkness has no way to be there. Until next time:

Don’t forget to love the way you want to be loved, listen the way you want to be heard, give the way you hope others give, care the way you want others to care, because change doesn’t start with them, it’s starts right here.

Madalyn Beck