An Alleluia in the Darkness

Today I am grateful for my friend Jill and our mutual trust and respect. I am also grateful for the beautiful weekend day we had weather-wise and otherwise yesterday.

This was yesterday's "Word for the Day" at www.gratefulness.org:

Darkness deserves gratitude. It is the alleluia point at which we learn to understand

that all growth does not take place in the sunlight.

(Joan Chittister)

Chittister is a Benedictine nun, a prolific writer, and an advocate for women's rights around the world.

If you are a regular church-goer in many denominations, you haven't heard an "alleluia" since the start of Lent, a time of penitence.  It is one of the things I so enjoy about Easter Sunday service-the joyful alleluias in the hymns.

But one needn't be a church-goer to appreciate Chittister's words above and the sound of an 

"alleluia." Darkness deserves our focus and our appreciation as much as the sunlight does. Only with both do we learn the value of each. For me, I certainly find truth in my life experiences that the dark times taught me much and made it possible for me to step out into the sunlight more confidently.

It also seems fitting on this morning, as I sit on our front patio in the coming daylight. It is cloudy and daylight savings time is underway. Central standard time is now nearly 7:30 a.m. and the light is just arriving. The birds have been singing for a good while already though, bridging the darkness and the light.  

Have a good day, unless you've made other plans.