This week, I was driving home after a late afternoon walk. Realizing my timing had me potentially running smack dab into 5 o’clock rush hour, I decided to take a different way home… one not necessarily off the beaten path, but certainly not one I usually chose.
In some faith traditions, the season of Advent is well underway. A time of waiting, as we prepare for the remembering of the birth of Christ. In other mindsets, Advent is not so much about waiting as about arrival.
In my own journey, I have come to approach Christmas in a very different manner from my traditional childhood celebration. I welcome these rather cold, barren days before the dead of winter…a legitimate ‘excuse’ if you will, to look inward at what needs rest… what needs to not be disturbed…
My choice of route this week got me home without annoying traffic and in record time.
But life is not usually that simple.
More often we take a turn or make a decision which sets us on a maze of circumstances and decisions which we hadn’t necessarily accounted for.
Sometimes these life labyrinths challenge us, as finding our way seems to only take us deeper and deeper into confusion, challenges, heartache and questions.
What this has taught me, however, is to not fear the confusion; nor disdain the challenge. Inevitably, it is these turns, though difficult, that lead me to answers I didn’t even know I was looking for. And with them, comes serenity that had evaded me.
It is hard to see the flickering light in the brightness of day; but how brilliantly is shines when the darkness surrounds us.
May we be open to the truths that the darkness allows our eyes and heart to see; and may these truths bring us healing.
