Darkness

When the music fades, rush walks, and the spotlight goes quiet, the one thing you are left with is darkness.  It’s transparent, slow, and full of the noise which haunts us from within.  In these moments one discovers the true conversation of one’s heart.  It is as if the busyness which consumed every waking moment has turned on itself.  Finally, one can heart one’s thoughts.  Yet in this moment fear, uncertainty, and doubt make their return.  One discovers despair and a sense of loss have decided to call.  Even confidence and worth have taken a break; which can at times extend into a long vacation.
 
Yet these moments are some of the best times of one’s life.  You know you are alive!  You get a chance to grabble with the truly important values and principles of one’s life.  You understand everything is out on the line – game on.  I find myself reveling in the challenges at hand.  It is as if the challenges of yesterday pale in comparison to life’s questions.  I have been avoiding them for a long time, afraid of the changes in my journey which my answers would dictate. 
 
Everything is out, ready to be arrange in new forms of beauty, fresh scenes of creation, and awesome works of art.  Yet I can sense, feel really, God warning.  It is as if Divinity is reminding me that I may think I am ready, but “in fact, you're about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me.  But I'm not abandoned.  The Father is with me.” (John 16.32)
 
You may not realize it, but your position is the same as mine.  Each has a new dawn, day, and opportunity in this moment that will touch every step which follows.  Yesterday’s news shouldn’t give you confidence about the present.  It is in this moment that you decide what the future holds.  God waits, ready to help.  Our choice, hidden in the freedom we long for, gives us the opportunity.  Beauty in darkness; hope in a world desperate for good news.