I like to think that lessons abound everywhere if we are just tuned in enough to decipher them. Maybe lesson is a strong word.  Perhaps there are just tiny messages that are left on our path to self discovery and sometimes we uncover them and other times they go unnoticed.

I was talking to G this week about life lessons and how easy it seems to be to find meaning in our day to day lives when things are going smoothly, but when we are struggling and looking for answers they seems to escape us.  We try to quiet our minds, and we pray, meditate, journal and beg for God to shed light on what we are going through and yet we come up empty.  Maybe we aren’t ready for the answers.  Maybe we can’t see them because we are so frantically trying to right the ship in the midst of the storm that we don’t have time to notice anything else.

Oftentimes, it isn’t until we have surrendered the search and really accepted where we are that we begin to see a tiny glimpse of what could be happening.  How many times, after the storm has passed, has your story become clear?  You wonder how you could have missed the messages.

Other times, there is no lesson, no reason and nothing you could have done to stop the circumstances you find yourself in and you just have to find a new way.  I believe though, that even when we have been taken down a dark road, there is light.

In our own family, we have found ourselves on roads we would never have chosen and couldn’t possibly understand.  We have experienced anger, frustration, fear, hopelessness and questioned everything.  It’s a dark and lonely place, but these hardships have also brought light into our lives.  That light didn’t come immediately and it didn’t take away the hard stuff, but it did give meaning to some of the pain.

Looking back, we easily could have missed the light that was shining; we could have focused on everything that was going wrong. Sometimes it takes brushing right up against the worst that life has to offer before you begin to parse out the bad and find the good.  We began saying things like, “it could be much worse than this and we are the lucky ones”  and we meant it. Slowly, gratitude and light took over.

I think that’s how light and meaning get in; through time and gratitude.  It can’t be forced and you can’t put it on a schedule.  It will come when you are ready.  If you haven’t found it yet, you might still be righting the ship.  Be patient and keep your eyes open for the shore.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,

Lowi & G