A young one was lost, wandering in the dark. Occasionally, she would bump into others who also roamed. But, they did not realize she was lost. They did not understand that they were lost as well. A few of them believed they knew the path and took her with them. She trusted them and went where they went. However, with time, she always ended up alone and even more lost… a little more afraid than before with a few new injuries that told of her journey through the dark.
Once in a while, she thought she could see a distant pinhole in the dark through which light shown. She tried to make the journey to look through the pinhole, but each time the great chasm of darkness, her painful injuries, and vexing fears made her lose sight of the light. Sometimes she stopped when she met some who had been hurt badly. She tried to help them. But when she did, her own injuries got worse and the pinhole seemed even farther away.
Eventually, she came to see the pinhole less and less. Sometimes she doubted there was any light at all. She imagined that she was abandoned in the darkness as a way of punishing her. She did not like the way thinking about that made her feel. She liked to sit and imagine what wondrous things there were outside the darkness. From time to time, that gave her hope but the hope would quickly vanish into the darkness. Mostly, however, she just felt trapped, believing that she deserved the darkness and that she would never know anything more of the light than the image of the pinhole that eluded her.
One day, feeling desperate, she moved through the darkness as quickly as she could. She called out names of those that might know of the light. Someone heard her, but he did not know anything of the pinhole. Wanting to help, that one called to another and then another. In a matter of moments, she was passed through the darkness along a corridor and found herself with someone different than the others she had met. Rather than tell her that she was lost and just needed to follow someone that “knows,” this one listened to her share her journey and the hope for peering through the pinhole. After hearing this courageous account, this new one held her tightly. She wept in the embrace. This was not like the holding of the darkness that always felt cold and unwelcome. This embrace was warm, inviting. There was something very different about this feeling. She knew that she was safe. She knew that she was loved. And then her eyes opened.
She immediately understood that it had not been a pinhole in the distance that she had seen all this time. Rather, it was the light around her trying to enter her eyelids. At first she felt shame. She cried out, “Why did I not just open my eyes? I would not have all these gashes and bruises. See, it is my fault!”
This one held her hand and said, “It is not your fault. No one held you tightly enough for you to know. No one told you. All you knew were the others with their eyes closed.”
Suddenly, she realized that this one was not just right in front of her. This One was everywhere… even in her. That pinhole had not only been the light trying to show her the way out of the darkness. It had also been her light trying to illuminate the darkness for them all.
She heard the One speak. “You will still hurt, but you will also find true rest. Rest, my little one. Rest in the light and do not fear the dark. We are One and never alone.”
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