In the darkness, in the hard parts of life, in the moments where our anger or doubt boil over and erupt, it is hard to see the good, it is hard to want to see the good.

But I believe there is good. Even in the darkness.

Yesterday little man and I took a walk. The path was dark, set at the bottom of a ravine and the hill on one side blocked the sunlight. It was there, shining above our heads on a beautiful, sun-filled, warm winter day.  The warmth was beyond us and made our place on the path chilly.

Until we turned and really looked at the cut hills we stood between.

There, in the dark parts we saw the frozen, fairy-like waterfalls, dripping their melted liquid onto the path, too much for a five-year old, who had to touch and break and smell every frozen part.

There, in the darkness, grew the most beautiful green moss, beneath and around the ice. The color was so bright and warm, we wanted to touch it, to feel it under our toes, to rub it against our cheeks, in hopes that some of its magic might find its way inside us.

Green has always been a color I am drawn to but this, this green, I wanted to inhabit, I wanted to shrink to the size of ladybug and make my home in it.

You see? Even in the darkness there is beauty.

Nature’s lessons never fail me. Sometimes they evade me, living at the edge of my sight, but they come to me, when needed. To calm my spirit, to align the crazy, to piece together the puzzle.

For many right now, politics is the black umbrella we are living under, blocking out the light and only showing us the hazy, blurry, thunderous gray. For others, it’s the  shadow of an illness, lingering which draws their attention, steering them clear of the good in every day. It may be the dread of returning to a joyless job, it may be the loss of something beloved, it may be the lack of love in a life, it may be the fear of the unknown.

Whatever it is, there is a hidden light, be it the white of a frozen waterfall, or the green carpet of Earth’s moss, or the copper shimmer within a rock. You may have to step into the darkness, you may need to get your hands dirty and muddy and so cold you can feel your heartbeat within, but it’s there, waiting for you, shimmering, whispering, beckoning, reminding you, darkness never outshines the light.