It has to get dark before you can see the beauty of the stars and the universe! Many evenings I look at the star-studded sky all around us here in the country and think how beautiful and magnificent it all is. All that beauty is up there during the day too, but we can't see it. It has to get dark first.
These thoughts went through my mind as I listened to the message of "light," delivered by Pastor Julie in her sermon this week.
I'm always listening for a word, a phrase, or a thought that becomes the genesis for a story. As Ben Logan once told me, "A writer is someone upon whom nothing is wasted. Even if someone is beating the hell out of you, a writer will take mental notes that may end up in a story one day." I know what he means.
As Pastor Julie said, these are dark times for many people in our community and country. She referred to the closing of NCR in Viroqua, where over 80 people and their families were affected when their jobs suddenly disappeared. This is devastating to those families. I think all of us could add names of people we know to the growing list of unemployed and underemployed. Things look mighty dark when you are struggling to pay your bills. The bitterly cold winter we find ourselves in, adds more stress to budgets that are already stretched to the breaking point. There isn't enough money for food, mortgages, and the necessities of life. Foreclosures are at a staggering number and growing.
The winter days are short and nights are long. Add the absence of sunlight to the burdens people are already carrying. When you put all that together, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. On a positive note, we know the dark days of winter will eventually give way to the sunshine of summer.
I know many readers of Across the Fence are among those who find themselves facing a very dark future at the moment. All I can do is echo what Pastor Julie said and try to offer you some positive thoughts. Don't despair. The light will overcome the darkness.
I've found myself in dark valleys too and wondered how I would survive. Things looked bleak and I couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Have faith that the stars will eventually shine out of that darkness.
To those who find themselves in better circumstances than your neighbor, reach out your hand, into the darkness, and pull another hand into the light. I wish I could take credit for that saying but it's attributed to Norman B. Rice.
My father said that twice during his life, when things looked dark and desperate, and he couldn't see any way out, help arrived in the darkest hour. In both cases he was asked to get off a farm he was renting because the heirs wanted someone else on it. It would be the same as the people who now find themselves suddenly out of a job because a business closed. Where do you turn when you have a family to feed? The first time an older woman walked down from Westby and wanted him to rent her farm. Several years later she died, and he was asked to leave. A man came and gave him a chance to buy his farm, with a one dollar down payment and a handshake to seal the deal. Neither of them offered him a free handout. He was too proud to have accepted that. But they were extending a hand into the darkness and helping someone find their way out of the darkness and into the light again. In later years he referred to those two people as guardian angels.
I've studied much of Joseph Campbell's writings and thoughts. I think he said it best. "The black moment is the moment when the real transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light."
It's my hope that every one of you who now find yourself facing what appears to be a dark future, will have a hand reach in and help show you a way to see the light again. Call it guardian angels if you want, or just plain luck. I don't look at angels as some heavenly hosts with wings and halos. I see them as extraordinary people, living among us, who are there when we need help. How they are sent to us is up to each of you to interpret, depending on your beliefs?
They show up with just the right encouraging words when we need it. They are there to lend a helping hand when our load gets too heavy to carry by ourselves. They can be our friends, neighbors, acquaintances, or even strangers. We all know people who would give you the shirt off their back if you needed one. I've told people that we come into this world naked, and the majority of us will leave this world dressed in some of our finest clothes. So we all leave with more than we came with.
Most of us will also experience some dark days while we're here. During those dark times, look for the stars. It takes darkness before you can see and appreciate the light.
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