"It is Better to Light a Candle than to Curse the Darkness"
This is an old Chinese proverb. But what does it really mean?
Just for a theoretical exercise, I asked Kate Davidson, my heroine in Joy Restored, if she could apply this proverb to her situation. I was surprised at her initial anger. She wasn't about to light a candle at her husband's needless death. Nothing could light the dark, at least in the beginning of her trial. She cursed the darkness.
I told Kate another way to look at this proverb was to ask "Where was God in all this? Where was He on this journey of yours?" That, too, proved hard for Kate. She said God doesn't hear her anymore, much less journey with her.
Kate is so like many of us isn't she? Our darkness obscures all the good surrounding us. We can't see blessings right in our pathway. Sometimes we even want to persist in our night.
She's challenged by my hero, Seth Orbin, to accept the peace that is hers in God. She still doesn't get it and thinks poor Seth is delusional. It takes a few trials on both of their parts to pull them together and for Kate to learn it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
Now that's mercy.
I didn't realize how much this story resonated with my own soul until I had completed it. At low points in my life, some similar to Kate's, I have felt sorely disconnected with my Source of Power. I've asked 'Where is God?' I found in the darkest of night, if I looked up, I could see the stars, all shinny and bright. In our deepest winter there is an invertible spring.
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