After the darkness comes the light

In an attempt to make quarantine life a little more fun, my husband and I along with our 12 & 16-year-old sons have been watching "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. This is not the first time I have seen these flicks, but it never ceases to amaze me how many life lessons I learn from our dear friends Frodo and Sam.

If you are not familiar with this story, then I would ask if you've been hiding under a rock ;)?? And then I would suggest what better time to spend either reading the books or watching the movies? Do it, you won't regret it! {and this is coming from a girl who is not a big fan of the Fantasy genre}

Even though it is Frodo who has been called to bear the burden of carrying the ring, it is Sam who I find so wise and insightful. At one point, in an effort to cheer Frodo up, he offers:

“I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are.

It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo.

The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were.

And sometimes you didn't want to know the end.

Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?

But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow.

Even darkness must pass.

A new day will come.

And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Right now the darkness might be all we can see:

the unknowns

the stress of distance learning

the economic impact

the lack of social interaction and so on

No matter the darkness we are in, I do know at some point a new day will come and I believe the sun will shine out the clearer. It will be such a beautiful time!

COVID-19 is only a passing thing.....

It will come to an end.....

It will be one of the great stories we will share......

But we get to decide if our story focuses on the darkness or the light!

And this doesn't just apply to our current times. We have all experienced times when we feel the darkness and wonder how we can ever be happy again. But we also know those times don't last - there is always an end, and with that end a beautiful new day!