Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Dearest God,

Tonight we will enter the dark hole together. It will be the first time I have journeyed deep into the soul of darkness with others. I've traversed the darkness alone but generally not with a group. We will engage in exploring the many sides of darkness in order to find the light shining.

Sometimes I am afraid of the darkness. When I lose my familiar way and find myself in dark places, I imagine spooky things around the corner. I think about someone or something jumping out, scaring the wits out of me. I imagine being gobbled up, poofed away, or falling without ever hitting bottom.

Yet, when I return in my mind to those times, I discover that I met you there. Unexpectedly, in strange and wondrous ways, each time I have come to the realization that I was not alone in the darkness, that there was this presence that kept me, held me while I wandered.

I have come to the conclusion that darkness is necessary, albeit scary. I may never journey the depths to discover you without the darkness. The darkness is a pathway to the divine. It's true that I may run into some scary characters along the way or experience the profound sense of being alone but somewhere along the way, I will draw near you, find you waiting to teach me an old truth, reveal a new truth or simply embrace me as a welcome home.

All this has been my experience, yet in the book Come, Be My Light, Mother Teresa describes traveling in darkness for 50 plus years. While I cannot imagine this kind of extended time in the darkness, I do know what it is that lead her continuously while she wandered. And I fall to my knees as I think about it.

Shine upon us
as we walk
the path
of darkness,
Wondrous One.
Be the light
that reveals
the truth.
Give us tools
for our travel.
Make us unafraid
to meet
whatever comes our way.
You are,
after all,
the source
of both darkness
and light.
Thank you
for both.

Love, Andrea