I was recently given a book entitled, “A Grace Disguised” (thank you Larry). This book is an account of how the author dealt with the tragedy of losing his mother, wife, and daughter in an instant when a drunk driver collided headlong into their van. I dare not imagine the pain he must have endured. In one section of the book he writes of a dream he had. In the dream he found himself running toward the light of the setting sun. Desperately trying to take in as much of the light as he could (even if it only eased his pain for a brief moment), he was never fast enough to keep up. The sun would always set leaving him in the darkness and pain of the loss of his family. One day his sister came to him and suggested that instead of running west toward the setting sun, to run east into the darkness. Since running west always ended in futility, running east could at least bring the hope of a rising sun. However, running east would also mean he must embrace the darkness.

Don’t we often run toward the setting sun? We do so in futility through all kinds of different methods. We do anything we can to dull the pain and run from anything that reminds us of the past, but the sun always sets out of our reach and we are left hurting once again. There is another option, embrace the hurt. I’m not saying that you make your decisions based on the hurt, but to deal with the pain. Allow yourself to be affected and not distance yourself from your hurt. In doing so, there is hope that the sun will rise again and bring you the healing you desperately seek.