I walk down a narrow path through a dark forest.

Overgrown branches reach their sharp, strong arms out from the brush and into my path, wrapping their thorny fingers around me. The farther I walk into the forest, the meaner the branches become. They grab at me with each step I take, scraping all sides of me. My skin breaks and blood spills out from the tears and scratches. I grow weak as I lose blood, and it gets harder and harder to keep walking as my pain grows alongside my weakness.

But walk on I must.

I trudge into the dark forest, for I cannot stay in the darkness. I was made for the light.

I walk down a narrow path through a dark forest.

The thick covering of trees above me blocks out all signs of light as the ghosts of the night come alive. I am haunted by the voices of the wildlife, the thought of hiding in the darkness becoming more appealing with each hungry battlecry I hear. There are great hunters out on this dark night, and I am their prey. As I walk through the darkness I am stalked by great cats named anxiety, followed by strong bears called depression and swarmed by relentless bats known as insecurity.

Everything in this dark forest seems to be plotting against me, working together to bring me to my ruin. They all seem so much stronger than me, their eerie voices so much louder than the thoughts of hope in my mind. But I cannot give in. I cannot believe their shouts. I cannot surrender to their relentless attacks.

I cannot stay in the darkness. I was made for the light.

I walk down a narrow path through a dark forest.

The stagnant pools of water that I walk past combine with my own rotting flesh to create a smell so horrendous that it floods all of my senses. The overall smell of emptiness, lifelessness, and even death are inescapable. I desperately gasp, everything within me yearning for fresh air. If I could only smell something that hints at life – the smell of pine or the smell of rain or the smell of blooming flowers in spring – that would give me the energy to keep walking through this dying forest. But my gasps yield no oxygen, no life. I am suffocating in the darkness. I am drowning on dry ground. I am dying in this dead, dark forest. Why am I dying?

Because I was made for light.

I walk down a narrow path through a dark forest.

The feelings, sounds, smells, and sights of this dark forest beat me down and make me feel worthless. I cannot find my strength; I cannot hear my hope; I cannot catch my breath. I feel lost in a world that is full of evil, darkness, death.

Is it all meaningless?

No. All of this struggle disproves the idea that everything is meaningless. The reality that I am dying in darkness reveals that I am made for the light. If I were created to live in darkness, my soul would be at rest walking through this dark forest. Instead, my soul is in a constant state of turmoil. If I were created to live in darkness, I would thrive in this dark forest. Instead, I feel like each day spent in the darkness results in a small piece of me dying.

I do not belong in darkness.

I was made for the light.

Each one of us is made for the light. We are created to walk in it, dance in it, live in it. This is why our souls become so weary as we walk through this dark world. Each day we spend in darkness takes a bigger toll on our already weary hearts, and we grow to believe that the darkness is all that exists. We feel discouraged, defeated, and dead inside. But the truth is that the darkness makes us delusional. It confuses us into thinking that the darkness and death is all we were made for and convinces us that everything is meaningless. We must push back against these lies. For all is not meaningless.

The darkness surrounding this dying earth is depressing and discouraging, but it is not all there is. On this dying earth there exists also light and life. Each day we walk through the darkness, we have the opportunity to look for the light and life amidst the darkness and death. We have the choice to see the beautiful among the ugly, the good in the bad, the healing through the pain, the glimpses of light breaking through the darkness. And as we discover these small glimpses of glory in a dull and dying world, we find joy for the present and hope for the future. For there are better days ahead. A day is coming when all the lies and illusions and doubts will be erased from our minds, and we will know with complete confidence that we are indeed made for the light. As we step fully into that light, our memories of darkness will disappear. Our experiences with death will be replaced by experiences with true life.

And we will walk in the light.

We will dance in it.

We will live in it.

Forever.

We are made for the light.