Before The Dawn

Where do you go when pain becomes personal? I mean really personal. And not just any old pain, I mean gut-searing, heart-wrenching pain? The kind that threatens to unhinge the very thought of life or living?

A moment might indeed seem such a long time. Do you crawl into the nearest and darkest emotional hole and hope that no-one comes to visit any time soon? Or maybe you take the bull by the horns and frequent some of life’s more insalubrious dark or dingy places?

Whichever your preferred pain-killer, the road to Hades is harsh beyond words. There is a way back though, even when the birds in the forest eat the breadcrumbs you’ve left on the path to help you find your way home. Life calls to us, quietly, urgently … wanting us to hear it. The thing is, to still the roar in your ears, it is possible and then you can hear.

There are some places we never expect a rainbow to be, like in a dark place, but they usually are if we look hard enough. You can tell it’s a rainbow when you put one foot in front of the other and the soles of your feet become lighter.

C.S. Lewis described it like the “deep magic from before the dawn of time [and where] death [when the deep magic happens] itself would start working backwards.”

And the pain you say? Well, it does go away but not everyone is the same, I feel I should warn you about that just so you know and don’t give up looking before the rainbow reaches you. Hold on and keep your eyes peeled. Look up. A rainbow’s not hard to spot.