Nights of the Journey: Feeling Uncertain & Lost

When I travel, I often arrive at the destination after the sun has gone down. Everything around me is different, but the blackness that blankets the environment makes it challenging to see.

Despite arriving late, I still feel energized by the buzz of a new place. I sense my surroundings are completely different: new faces, new smells, new sounds. The streetlights offer brief and vague glimpses of what this new place looks like.

When I wake the next day, morning gives life to the area. The sunlight chases away the darkness and mystery. Suddenly, I can see everything.

A personal journey sometimes feels similar. The nights of our paths makes it difficult to see where we’re at or where we’re going. We know we’re heading somewhere, but with limited sight we move with uncertainty and timidity.

Along our journeys, we experience moments of both day and nighttime. Daytime offers clarity and insight. Everything is illuminated and we distinctly see our surroundings: there’s a stop sign here, a green light over there, a roadblock ahead. We have more opportunity to plan and prepare.

In the evening, everything is harder to discern. We don’t always know where the signs are or what they say until we’re directly in front of them. We hear things in the distance, but our restricted vision prevents us from seeing what’s ahead, behind, or around us. Nighttime is infused with vulnerability.

But we walk anyway, because the only way to arrive anywhere is to simply move. It’s better to maneuver through the darkness than to remain in the same place. You may stumble during the nights of your life, but you’re still inching closer to what awaits you.

If it’s evening right now in your life, keep walking. You may feel lost for trying to follow a path that blends into the surrounding darkness. But at night there isn’t a path. Rather, it’s an opportunity to explore, discover, and learn. What you find in the dark helps guide you through the day.

Through every dark night, life will carry you into the morning, when suddenly everything is clear.