Even In Darkness, There is Light

Mother Nature is a teacher. Lessons from fire & clouds.

I’ve had a terrible week.

There was a fire at my partner’s restaurant, around 18 hours after some personal shit had hit the fan. I tell you, tragedy rallies people together.

“Tragedy” doesn’t feel like the right word because it could have been much worse. A tragedy would be injuries, death, a destroyed space, neighbouring businesses affected.

No one was there when the fire happened, and the fire itself was small. A neighbour saw smoke (the wrong kind) and called 911. If there had been someone in the restaurant at the time — if the incident had happened just an hour later — they’d have solved the issue in moments with no harm. The front of the restaurant was mostly unscathed. Firehoses and sledgehammers caused most of the damage. Soot. Water damage. The result: A closure of at least two months. My income has been unstable for a couple of years, and now my under-employment is even lower. I struggle to maintain my minimum debt payments every month, nicely telling the collectors that I’m doing my best.

Still, every day, I meditate, and I pray, and I ask, and I journal. Here is something I wrote in my journal yesterday morning on a wintery day when first, it rained, and then the precipitation turned into wet snow:

Even on a cloudy day like this one, the sun is up. The clouds are hiding it, making the sky — and the environment — dark, but it’s there. I can’t see the sun, but it’s there.

This is a metaphor for life.

The sun is always there. There is perpetually light beyond the darkness.

Mother Nature is a teacher.

I know it will get better. I know it will. I keep getting closer, but sometimes I feel like Charlie Brown with the football that gets yanked away. I know we all feel this way sometimes.

The sun is always there.

Today I remembered that while I’m good at asking “The Universe” for what I need, I rarely ask people for what I need.

A few days ago, I made a plea to my contacts on two social networks. Today, I resolved to reach out to more people on every social network and to reach out to individuals. I know I’m still holding myself back. I’m aware that there is more help available from humans and from the Universe.

I recognize that part of me thinks, “Why would someone help us out in that way?” But people do. Why not a crowdfunding campaign to keep us going? Why not us? (Insurance will pay for repairs, but we need to keep paying our personal expenses.)