When Darkness Hovers
Living in the Liminal Space
Hey Lovelies...
If I’m honest, for the past few days I’ve been in a place where I can feel the darkness lurking around the edges of my mind. As someone who lives with the constant awareness of anxiety and depression in my body, being present for me has meant creating a container for the bad thoughts to go. It has meant learning to sit still in the tension of good and not so good. Of light and dark. Of “hey, look around, you are so blessed” and “yeah I know, but why do I feel so lost and unseen.” As you might have guessed, living in that liminal space isn’t easy.
Nevertheless, I keep showing up. I must always show up. Even when I want to throw in the towel. Even when “the work” seems pointless. I show up. Because some days that’s all I can do.
I encourage you, friends, to keep showing up to your life no matter what it looks like on the inside (your heart, mind, and body) or out (this country, the world). That, to me, is the definition of courage.
I love that recently there’s been a shift from using language like “safe space” to the more realistic “brave space.” The latter is what I hope this The Healing Place becomes. If you’ve dealt with any degree of trauma, you know that it’s hard to feel safe anywhere. To trust people, places, or things. But we CAN be brave. We can enter places with the intention to be vulnerable and completely open to what God reveals to us on our healing journeys. And guess what? It’s that collective vulnerability that makes a space or place truly safe.
Brene Brown says it this way: “Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
And Dr. King, whose life and work we celebrate today, drove the point home:
“When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Love y’all. 💜
tmlg
Today, we celebrate a KING
In the spirit of Black Joy, I want to celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day by sharing a song that 11 year old Tracey ADORED and can still recite like it’s 1986 and hip hop is still in its adolescence. 🎶 Siiiiiiing, Celebrate! Sing, Sing celebrate! For a Kiiiiiiiing, celebrate! 🎶 [Both hubby and baby girl watched incredulously as I just sang every word at the TOP of my lungs]