when you are in a dark place

When you are in a dark place, do not fear.

The child in her mother’s womb

knows only darkness,

yet light and love surround her precious life

though she does not know it.

She makes her home in darkness;

she even grows there,

though she does not know how she grows.

Yet, being loved, she grows.

Her hope is small

compared to her mother’s hope.

Yes, she grows in hope.

Borrowed hope is strong enough in the dark place.

It seems to her that this darkness

is all there is

or will ever be.

She feels as though she sprang from darkness

and will live out her days there entirely.

Wait:

she can hear and feel

there is something more.

Where is it? It seems to be here but not here.

Is it outside? Could there be an outside?

Is life there? What is it like?

She cannot name what she hears

out there in here

but that does not change what she hears:

namely, the Voice

the voices of love

out there in here—

she hears laughing and music.

They are getting ready for something special,

but she does not know they are getting ready;

to her, all that is good has been prepared already

before her arrival.

She is not ready for what is to come.

It is too much to understand right now.

It all seems so close

yet so far away.

Then, one day, when the tremors quicken

and the pain is at its worst,

the darkness will end and she will be born.

The new life is so startling

she will scream and cry—

but only for certain times, in fits and starts.

With each cry there will be countless consolations,

greater than the sum of her tears.

Every true hunger will be filled

and every deep wound will be healed.

When you are in a dark place, do not fear.

When days begin at night

they end in light.

when you are in a dark place

by troy cady