Finding Light in the Dark: Embracing all of Life

What does it mean to "embrace life"? How does a person see the good in the bad? Are you so focused on your creativity that you lose sight of the things that really matter? Are you focused on your busy schedule that when beautiful things pass you by, you don't notice?

As soon as I walked into my favorite coffee shop, I knew that it wasn't going to be too quiet for me to work. No, problem, I thought. Ordering my coffee, I sat down next to a window and stuck in my earphones. A man in the room over took up the guitar that they have in the coffee shop and started playing, singing along to his tune. Annoyed, I turned my music up loudly in my ears so I could ignore the man. He wasn't a bad singer or guitar player, but I just didn't want to hear him. My coffee came and I sipped at the espresso, trying hard to force the creativity and inspiration.



After a few moments of this, I looked up and saw the sun shining through the open garage door, wind bringing dust into the shop and the barista sweeping up the dirt in an attempt to keep the place clean. Dust shot up into the air, floating around in a sunbeam. My breath caught in my throat and I took out my earphones. The man still sung his song, finger nimbly strumming the strings of the instrument. The beauty was there. The inspiration there. The creativity that I needed was there, but I just hadn't seen it yet. I was so focused on a stupid word count and the fact that the coffee shop was busy on a Thursday. I mean, coffee shops aren't supposed to be busy on Thursday afternoons, right?

If I hadn't had looked up, I wouldn't have noticed the beauty. If I hadn't had been stuck in my novel, I wouldn't have noticed the simplicity of life around me. These are the things God puts in front of us, the things that He smiles and says, "I have the inspiration you need, just look around you."

Find the Light

Have you ever gone from a bright room into a really dark room and you see spots? Every time you blink more spots are made. One of my characters recently developed a fear of the dark and when she was put into a situation where she was in a pitch black room, she would keep blinking just to see the spots. She was looking for just a teeny bit of hope. Just a little bit of light. 

I think that's how we are with light. When life is good, then we don't notice how much we hate the dark. The light is so glorious and we bask in the sunshine of goodness. But embracing life is also about darkness. Life isn't always going to be good. We go from light to dark in less than a few hours and we blink. We blink hard and we try to keep the spots of light from disappearing. Just that little piece of hope in the darkness. Just that little bit of light to keep us from falling. We search. We find. We embrace. 

Don't Give Up Just Yet

Foster Boy walks out of the room, tears welling in his eyes. I frown and I ask him what is wrong. He shakes his head sadly and wraps his tiny arm around my waist, burying his head in my shirt. He tries not to cry. I gently place my hand on his shoulder, not exactly knowing how to comfort the little one. Mom says something to him, and he looks up, tilting his head. He can't decided he if he should be happy or stay sad. A little giggle escapes his lips and he looks up at me, giving me a small smile. I return the gesture before prompting him to go play. And he runs off, a smile on his face.

Whatever made the boy sad, he kept to himself and then decided it wasn't worth being sad over. The things the child had gone through and he still had the courage to smile and to breathe and to live. And yet, we complain. 

We complain about our plots not working, and our characters falling short.

We complain about not getting our word count in or not drawing so many pictures.
We complain about not having inspiration or feeling creatively burnt out.
God still gives us light. He still gives hope and inspiration. Just look up.

There's always a bright side to a situation. There's always room for improvement.

Stop. Smile. Breathe. Because life is beautiful.

Embrace life. Embrace the good and the laughter; the pain and the sorrow.