“It is dark before the dawn, but the dawn never fails. Trust in the dawn.”
-Florence Scovel Shinn
There is in the wee hours of the morning, a time when the night transitions into the day, when the moon hands over her scepter to the sun, and when the darkness turns to light. Half of the sky is shrouded in midnight, onyx with tiny diamond speckles. The other half is bursting with hope, the color of sapphire slated with golden rays. Most people are still asleep, and so they miss the masterpiece, and with it, they miss one of life’s key lessons. After the darkness comes light, and after the dusk, comes dawn. We must trust in the dawn for the dawn never fails. How does this apply to everyday life? What big lesson is swirling around the cosmos for us to glean?
Many of us spend a great deal of our lives planning. We make plans to graduate from high school, then go to college, get married, have a family, buy a home, build a white picket fence, and then retire. We never plan for the divorce, the death of a close loved one, the crumbling of our business, or the crumbling of our dreams.
No one talks about the pain and despair of watching everything that you have worked for dissolve as though it all meant nothing. As a society we do not talk about the time that is necessary for some people to grief after the physical death of a loved one, or the death of a relationship. We expect people to be strong at all times, and to face each day without any weak moments. We encourage people to believe that “failure is not an option,” when sometimes it is the outcome. We see people going about their daily lives, and often times we know nothing of the struggle that they face beneath smiles.
We do not realize that they are in a dark place within their own mind. We do not realize that depression is a reality for so many people in our society. We do not realize the crippling effects that many people face when life does not go according to plan. A dark moment or a dark patch in a person’s life can make all hope seem lost. The perception of a failure can be too much to bear. We do not encourage each other to see that from our darkest moments could arise some of our greatest accomplishments and lessons. We are not encouraged to trust in the dawn.
J.K Rowling, the author of the very popular Harry Potter series, created the Dementors—a dark, soul sucking character—for her books after a bout with clinical depression following a failed marriage and a period of unemployment. In this period of her life, she learned what the cosmos are constantly teaching us each day. She learned that after the dusk, comes the dawn.
In her 2008 commencement speech to students at Harvard University, she stated:
“And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I built my life… Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies…The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift; for all that it is painfully won.”
After you have gone through your darkest moments, after you have gone through the valley of the shadow of death within your soul, you will arrive at a point where you will realize that you can only see the stars in the darkness.
Let them guide you, and remind you, that you are a part of so much more. They will remind you to be humble, because you are a tiny part of a much larger whole; but then they will also remind you that you are great.
They will remind you that you have gifts that are unique to you, and that you ought to share them with the rest of humanity. The stars will shimmer, and hope will arise in your heart. You will remember that each morning, the dusk gives way to the dawn. These are the lessons that we learn in the dark—strength, perseverance, resilience, determination, and courage.
When the dawn does arrive, you will be stronger and wiser than before. You will realize that in your life, many things will happen—the good, the bad, and the downright ugly—and most of what transpires will be out of your control. You will experience the entire gambit of emotions—everything from love to anger, and all that is in between. The darkness will teach you that no matter what happens, change comes, and you have the ability to react in the positive or the negative to anything that you face. Whatever happens, never give up! Look to the sky and remember that the dawn is coming, and with it, your joy.
This is a guest Blog post by Heather Wiggins. She is an Attorney, Copywrite and text Editor, and Writer in the area of spirituality and self-help. She resides in the Washington D.C. area and you can connect with her on Facebook by clicking here.
