Sharing the Journey
"It is best to be still when the light is dawning"

by Gary Priour, HCYR Founder

The spiritual dimension enters into life as a mystery that cannot be rationally explained or put easily into words. Yet it is as ever-present as the air we breathe.

For those who have experienced early childhood traumas, such as loss of parents or serious abuse, the spiritual journey is complicated by the presence of crippling emotional complexes rooted in anger and fear.  

"Clearing the lens" can be a long and arduous task, and no quick fixes can replace the patience and waiting required while healing finds its own way beneath the surface, aided by the unseen medicaments of the Holy Spirit.

One key is to know the process as evolving, and thus avoid the harm that can come from misinterpreting a stage as final. So, we encourage youths at HCYR to proceed with life, even as they hurt and fear, taking one step at a time, anticipating breakthroughs in the spirit just as they expect the sun to rise again in the morning. 

And we also coach them in the art of experiencing the down side of life without despairing, of viewing their sufferings as a season like winter in the inner year.  We can remind them of the sufferings of Christ himself, and that, if greatly abused, they are members of an honored group.

As we adults go through our own "dark nights of the soul" we can show steadiness, faith and waiting. We can thus exemplify hopefulness in moments which can be just as uplifting and encouraging to children as the openly shared joys of success.

Our own visible walks through difficult times may, in fact, be more effective than our words in the education and guidance of a child who fears that his own darkness is the result of a unique ignorance, or propensity to failure, or even of a Godless universe.

While showing how to experience the darkness as a part of the cycle of life that will turn in time into an opportunity for renewal, we model a way of living that gives value to hope and faith by illustrating their very real effectiveness.

And in modeling the experience of suffering as an accepted part of the journey, we show a way to acquire perspective on the human condition that includes compassion and forgiveness, along with hope and triumph.  

So we travel together in the faith that light, even when obscured, is nearby, and that it will come through to us as we go forward. What we can also do in this domain of sharing the spiritual journey is to take the bushel off our own lamp when it is burning brightly.  

Hopefully, there will always be some among us who, fresh from the experience of being touched by God, will be singing in joy and reminding the rest of us how the tune goes.

Among the key notes which we hold as essential to that melody are love and grace.  Love is an essential fruit of redemption, and can be known by its uplifting result. Christ's love welcomes us home and heals our wounds.

As we look around in the midst of our daily lives, we begin to note, time and again, that feeling of being picked up and dusted off, retrieved from imminent disaster for the journey onward. For grace, like love, has a powerful presence.

So, there is good news about being a wounded person.  First, our wounds may be seen as a splinter of the cross, as a mark of adoption into a great spiritual family.  Second, the wounded are no more guilty than the healed when the scales of justice are read.  And finally, Jesus teaches that the darker a person's journey has been, the more the light will be appreciated when the dawn comes.

"For a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness overcomes it not."     --  John 1:5