What Happens in the DARK.

Life is hard.
Life is filled with pain.
Life has twists and turns that seem to lead nowhere.
Life hits you hardest when things seem okay.
Life does not always make sense.
Life is dark. And thats okay.

Darkness has never been inviting. In fact, we spend so much of our lives running from it. The breeding ground for the scary scenes in a movie, or the monsters that are always hiding under your bed, it has never been the friend of many no matter what age.
It also has a lifelike quality that makes it all the more terrifying. It grabs, envelops, taunts, runs, pushes, drains, and even cripples in the most terrible of ways. We come to points where it feels like its all we have known in this life. And for sure…. there isn't much hope of there ever being a single ray of light that will make difference to this dreaded enemy.

If there is a picture that I have seen painted lately its darkness. And in true fashion, I assume that I know what its all going to be about. Darkness has been present in my life. I know it well. While I may not have been sitting around in a 4 corner room with all the lights off and windows covered, this enemy has made its way into my life and into the lives of those I love. So, I don't see my perspective being too changed…. its dark, what more is there? Apparently a lot….

3 things, 3 things dark, 3 things that had another side: a darkroom, a black velvet cloth, the womb

Darkroom: Now I have only seen it in the movies, but they say we used to develop film this way (yes I realize my reality is somewhat small). The room was completely absent of natural light, and if it got in too soon, you could easily ruin the film/pictures being made there. The darkness was created on purpose and was necessary.
Black velvet cloth: You may have seen this in a store, or as the background in those little tiny boxes that us women get all excited over when that special someone busts one out of their pocket. This very cloth is used often as a backdrop for the display of diamonds. When you take this hard-pressed gem and place it in front of the black cloth, it shines in a way that it could not otherwise. The darkness was used on purpose and was necessary.
The womb: We have all been there, inside our mommy's tummy. Don't try and deny it. It happened. While I cannot tell you from memory what it was like, what I can say is that its a dark place. The reactions taking place and the process that happens in developing a baby, all happen in the dark. The dark was lived in and was necessary.

Okay so none of these relate in the slightest except that each involves "dark" in some way. Correct. My thoughts exactly. Until I read Psalm 139 and realized how "dark" my own perspective was.

Now most people know the fearfully and wonderfully made part of this word, but what I was all of a sudden drawn to were these words….
"You have searched me and known me…You discern my thoughts from afar…acquainted with all my ways…where shall I flee from your presence….If I say surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night…"
So… not only does God know me, my thoughts, my life, he even knows that darkness covers me, that the light that comes is quickly faded into night. While I sit there, wondering, waiting, surrounded by this dreaded enemy whats the point? I read on….
"Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you…you knitted me together in my mother's womb…. wonderful are your works; my soul knows it well…"

Say what now? Dark is light? With you God the night is bright like day?
What I failed to realize is that darkness has a purpose. Things happen in the dark.
In the darkroom, the film is developed into a picture. That picture holds within it a moment, captured and stored for eternity. Without that darkness, the process could not be completed. You would not find anywhere that moment you wanted to hold onto.
That black cloth, though dark and not really appealing to the eye, is the ground for which a gem shines with all the luster it can contain. The black brings out all that is good, beautiful, and brilliant about that diamond.
The life that is started in the womb of every mother spends days in the dark to be made into the soul that will soon open its eyes to the world. Every piece and part of that developing person is forged there, and look what comes of it in no time at all…. a living, breathing, heart beating life.

At some point in our lives, we come to darkness. Whether we stepped into it or chose to bring it into our lives, we will find ourselves surrounded and enveloped in it, maybe with no hope of light coming in any time soon. Its hard to see any of this as "wonderful" or to even understand whats going on when its so obvious we can't see. ITS DARK FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Its scary and it hurts and its confusing and I have no idea what is coming.

God knows you, your thoughts, your words, your paths, your movements, the way you go about everything you do… even in the dark. If your looking for light, maybe its not this bright ray of whatever you think will change your situation or make it all go away. Maybe the light is the reality that there is a work happening there, something is being created, made, developed, and will soon shine against what you only saw as dark.


May confidence grow in the dark.
May change develop in the dark.
May hope be bread in the dark.
May your soul know this well.