As I shared on Monday, my book is here.

While we will have in-person dates in November, she is available on Amazon now.

When I revisited this book from the original Kindle version I wrote in 2021, I wanted to do something completely different – as, in five years of living with chronic illness since then, I am completely different.

This book has the same title – but it is not the same book. It contains 60 reflections, each opening with a scripture and closing with a thought from one of the saints.

Today, I wanted to share with y’all one of the reflections from my book on that topic, Day 5, called Being Light:

Being Light (Day 5 – Grace, Songs, Scripture, and Spoons)

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:5

Five years have passed since the original Kindle edition of this book was published.

Reading it again today, I realize this is hardly the same book. Returning to those pages, I saw how many of the entries no longer fit our current moment because they were written in a very different season of our world. I also see how much I myself have changed in the years since. Many of those earlier devotions no longer reflect the message I want to share with you now.

The original tone of that Kindle book felt very heavy. And while we will certainly talk about many difficult things, because we live with complex and painful realities, I do not want us to dwell in a heavy place all the time.

I once read something from G.K Chesterton that resonated deeply with me, and I have carried it in my heart into the writing of these pages: “It is easy to be heavy, hard to be light.”

As I’ve been thinking more about living in the light despite dark circumstances, I searched for a few short meditations to share with you. Perhaps you, too, are struggling under the weight of personal health challenges in an overwhelming and sometimes frightening world:

Light can penetrate darkness, but darkness cannot penetrate light. – Madeleine L’Engle

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. – Albert Camus

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly. – G.K. Chesterton

The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything. – Julian of Norwich

Joy does not simply happen to us: we have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. – Henri Nouwen

Always, of course, seeking out scripture to meditate on and keep close to our hearts will keep us close to the Light as well:

The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? – Psalm 27:1

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. – Ecclesiastes 11:7

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. – Matthew 11:30

For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. – Psalm 36:9

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. – Isaiah 9:2

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness. – John 8:12

I will never ask any of us to pretend that living with chronic illness is going swimmingly or that we should simply put on our Sunday School faces. If I’m honest, in many ways my illnesses have grown more complex, more unpredictable, and more difficult over the past five years – and yours may have as well. These are, after all, progressive diseases.

This is always a place where we speak the truth about what we are facing.

But today I simply want to remind us that light and joy can still be found, even in the midst of pain and difficulty. Our lives are more beautiful when we seek it.

My hope is that this little book may be a soft landing place for us all.

Wishing y’all a lovely, light-filled day.

God save us from gloomy saints. – St. Teresa of Avila

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.