Darkness Exists To Make Light Truly Count

In a couple of months, it will be two years since my mom passed away.  There are days when it seems like it was yesterday, but most of the time it feels as though she left us a long time ago.  

A lot of things have changed since she died.  My kids have grown.  We added a daughter-in-law to the mix.  Holidays have come and gone with new rhythms and traditions.  Our family was forced to adjust to the blank space that was created when she was no longer with us.  

I was feeling sad about it all the other day, and I recalled a song that had been important to me when I was reeling with grief.  

The song by Ryan O'Neal was written to a young man who had just lost his mother, and the singer is trying to help him find meaning in it all.  Here are the lyrics that I remember being so impactful: 

Maybe your light is the seed
And the darkness the dirt
In spite of the uneven odds
Beauty lifts from the earth
From the earth
You're much too young now
So I write these words down,
"Darkness exists to make light truly count." 

If you are going through a season of loss right now, I want to give you some encouragement this morning.  

Maybe you lost a loved one.  Or perhaps your career came to an abrupt and untimed end.  It could be that what you grieve is the loss of your health and vitality.  Maybe you are grieving the loss of a relationship that has ended.  

And maybe during this season of loss, you have begun to feel as though the darkness is winning.  

I'm here to tell you that it isn't.  Because the darkness doesn't get to win.  Ever.  

If anything, the darkness simply serves to show you how bright the light can be.  You will get through this.  You will laugh again.  You will feel joy again.  You will love again... you will find fulfillment... 

The feeling of loss will always be there, but you will experience it differently if you will let it.  It will act as a contrast to the light of life, which burns bright all around you, in you and through you.  

Because that light is the light of Christ himself of whom it is said that the darkness cannot ever overcome.  

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.