Light In The Darkness

No one in this world can escape experiencing pain. Pain is an inevitable part of life. Some people seem to get more than their fair share of it though. I thought I knew pain before…but I knew nothing about what true pain was. In the midst of our most painful moment we have to answer a question. Will the pain win? Or will we find a way to illuminate the darkness?

I used to hear people say “trouble don’t last long, trouble don’t last always.” But in this case- this pain will last a lifetime. Sometimes it’s like that. We have to accept the fact that we will live the rest of our lives with pain. But that doesn’t mean we have to live in pain. This isn’t exclusive to grief and trauma. People with certain conditions like multiple sclerosis, arthritis & CTE must accept that they will live with pain but they don’t have to live a life of suffering.

The pain is now a part of who they are. But some people with the same pain will respond to it differently.

Some people will let the pain ruin their lives. Some will let the pain run their lives.

What do I mean by let the pain run our lives?

I mean when we don’t try to sweep it to the side as if it never happened. We dive deep into the darkness of pain and learn the lessons that it has come into our lives to teach us. Let the pain be our companion, our guide, walking hand in hand toward our true selves.

Pain is life's powerful teacher.

In my experience I learned how little I truly understood about anything before pain invaded my life.

I feel enlightened!

Like on The Matrix when at the end Neo saw everything in code and everyone around him was illuminated and moved in slow motion. He was able to see light in the darkness. Neo was able to operate on a different level because of the awakening he experienced.

We must accept the pain, that it is ours, our gift and our curse, then we learn to let it drive us rather than make us run from it. If we face the pain head on, we can find a purpose within that pain that has the power to truly ignite us.

The pain hurts immensely, but I can say that it has enabled me to "see in the dark." I am more purposeful in everything I do as a result of the pain I have experienced. I honestly wish I could have been this version of myself while my son was still living.

I am made anew.

This new me knows that this life is but a blink and we will be together again in a life that will last for all eternity.

Going into the cocoon is a painful experience for a caterpillar, but the caterpillar that goes in the cocoon will never be that same being again.

It emerges different. Changed. Evolved into something more beautiful than it ever envisioned for itself. But what happens while in the cocoon determines how it emerges. A very specific process must take place and it cannot be rushed.

Have you ever seen butterflies with malformed wings that cannot fly? Those butterflies tried to fly before they were ready? Their wings weren’t dry and when they tried to fly they hit the ground, their wings crinkled-forever changed and never could heal properly.

We are all in our cocoons right now, enveloped in darkness and pain. Our cocoon is the incubator where transformation takes place. But just because we go in a cocoon doesn't mean we will emerge with radiant wings.

All caterpillars go into a cocoon but not all butterflies fly.

What we do while in the cocoon determines how we emerge from it.

Going into a dark cocoon faced with uncertainty is a scary process.

Changing from a caterpillar to a butterfly is a painful process where the organism completely digests itself and liquifies before forming into the butterfly.

A butterfly is not a caterpillar with wings- it is a completely new being that has undergone a painful process of transformation from something ordinary into something beautiful that can make anyone stop and reflect in awe.

Changing, growing, and healing is a process. Whether from trauma, adversity or grief, we must allow the process to take place. We can never return to who we were before. But we can become something even more vibrant than we imagined.

We see the colors with new eyes, feel the breeze with new skin, we experience the world with new perspective, we feel love with every inch of ourselves.

I loved hard before...but now I don't love...I am love. My fingertips tingle as my eyes well up in reflection of my many blessings in love. My whole being is love. I am a reflection of the most high, who is love.

He is light upon light. And His light radiates from us. Light that can never be extinguished...only transferred and transformed.

Light is deposited in the darkness and all creation requires darkness to develop into what it is destined to be.

A seed develops in the darkness of the soil. A star develops in the darkness of the universe.

A photo develops in the dark room. A baby develops in the dark womb.

Don't be afraid to lay in the solitude and darkness of your cocoon. It is the only way to become who your were born to be.

"He takes them out of all kinds of darkness into the light, by His leave and guides them along the exact right path."