After divorce, we may feel like our light is dim. Divorce often makes us think we have no light to shine. But, from 14 years out from my divorce, I want to tell you that is categorically not true! In fact, the very event of your divorce allows you to shine in ways that are more visible for all to see. Take advantage of that. Your impact can be far beyond what it was had your divorce never happened.
Here’s something from George Bernard Shaw that I love! I don’t agree with everything he believed, but he seemed to grasp that life is an amazing gift on it’s own … regardless of our struggles. “I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It’s a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got to hold up for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
George’s father was an alcoholic who alienated the family to such an extent that none of his children attended his funeral. His mother left the family to pursue a musical career. Yet George, in spite of the troubles and challenges of his own harsh life thought it “a splendid torch” of joy that he was going to pass along.
You and I are passing something along too … to everyone we meet. After our midlife divorce, our children, our grandchildren, our extended family, our friends, and our larger community will either see life more brightly because of us, or they will feel discouraged and bitter because of the sad unfairness of it all. Which do we want people to see in us?
Let’s always choose to shine our light of life. Even after the despair of our divorce, let’s hold up our torch of hope and joy and love and goodness and fun! We can’t do one thing about any other person’s choices or bad decisions, but we most certainly can “burn as brightly as possible” ourselves during our own time on this earth. It’s the only life we have this side of heaven, so let’s start “glowing in the night for all to see!”
We all have a chance to encourage those around us like never before … especially after our divorce! Let’s pass on our own blazing torch … starting today!
“You are the world’s light — a city on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see.” ~ Matthew 5:14 (The Living Bible)
