I never try to make light of my suffering or yours. It is all the same. It stems from the same source. It is ineradicable.

I have been writing of my own suffering for many years now. It is still here.

Sometimes it gets the best of me and then I retreat.

It always finds me.

This is not a casual, brush-it-off kind of suffering.

It is the kind that lasts a lifetime.

No joy has come along to offset or mitigate it.

Instead, the suffering has induced a kind of quality of light in me.

The light that shines in darkness is strong and steady. I lean on it to make it through the dark times.

It does not take the suffering away.

It does not glorify me or honor me.

It sees right through me. And the light that shines in darkness cannot be put out.

Vicki Woodyard