Lately it seems that everyone is looking for the darkness in people finding fault and dragging people down rather than looking for the light in people.

We all were created to do great things, but the world wants to tear people down.  And too often we listen to the negative talk and then we look for the darkness in people.

Six years ago, I came to Pine Ridge for my immersion for school. It truly changed my life. During our trip we visited the Wind Cave National Park.  During our Cave tour the ranger turned off the lights. We were plunged into total darkness.  I mean dark. Then she lit a single match. That match, that single spark changed everything. I decided then and there that I wanted to be a spark in the darkness.

Sadly, around here, if someone is trying to improve their lives, others become jealous and pull them back down. Someone is nice to someone: they must want something from them. A person makes progress, but we focus on the misstep. We ignore the good things, the 2 steps forward, and we turn a step back into 3 steps back.

Maybe I am different.  I am the eternal optimist.  I look for the good in people I look for the spark,the light. I want to believe in people, that they can do it. I want to celebrate the successes in people. 

Perhaps, as I have been told, I am too trusting, too nice, and too supportive.  What is wrong with that? Hell, this world, particularly this place, is hard enough. I am reminded of the story Jesus told of our focus on the speck in someone’s eye while ignoring the plank in ours. Yet we focus on every misdeed, every mistake, and every fault all to drag people down.

Today was a hard day. It seemed like everyone I ran into had a complaint. According to what I heard, I did nothing right. I don’t know what I am doing. It felt like everyone wanted to tell me how to do my job. Everyone was a critic. Yet it is me who is in the arena. It is me who is working hard every day to see the light in others.

I will continue to look for the light. To see the good.

It is who I am.

God loves ya, and so do I.