Illuminate

There are these tunnels on the freeway right where I grew up that I still get to drive through on my way to and from church and work.  My sons are fascinated by them (as I was when I was younger....and still am now).  What is so mesmerizing about tunnels?  I mean, they're super dark, but they're not, because they have cool, bright lights.  Along with many other things I experience with my sons, this provoked reflection on what deeper meaning this could be an analogy for.

Throughout the course of our lives, we're bound to encounter dark areas.  Maybe we create these dark areas ourselves, or maybe we are thrown into them by no will of our own.  I believe that everyone must encounter something of this sort sometime in their life.  Tunnels are intrinsically dark, gloomy, frightening, and unknown.  Yet they offer the opportunity - the choice - to be illuminated.  This illumination provides comfort, and a way to navigate through turns and obstacles that could otherwise be fatal.  It's no simple task, because the initial work must be done in darkness - with little to no direction.  Yet once the initial spark is made, the process becomes a bit more feasible.  In the end, the tunnel is lit and the dark course can be navigated.  Danger and destruction have been avoided.
What's interesting about tunnels is that they are far more enjoyable at night.  Why?  Because as you're driving through the darkness of night, you come across a stretch of light that is brighter than anywhere else along your journey.  During the day, you go from daylight to a tunnel that's a bit dimmer.  At night, (especially in one of these particular tunnels, when all the lights are on), you drive through and feel like you actually need a pair of sunglasses.
 The lights that were meant to just get you through are now a beacon that shines brighter as your entire course grows darker.  And these lights can represent various things.  For me, the tunnels represent dark times...very dark times.  And the lights represent the deep lessons I learned through these times.  Furthermore, they are truths that were proven because they had to be, else I would have been destroyed.  And at the time, these seemed to help me barely survive.

When the journey progresses, and everything around you becomes dark, these lights mean even more.  And they are a joy, because they remind you of the lessons you've learned, and prove that they are all the more true.