Drowning in the Dark (Part III): Lighting the Candle
Photo by Andres F Uran on Unsplash
Hopefully you’ve read Parts I and II of the Drowning in the Dark series, and now we
come to the moment that all the darkness has been prepping us for.
Showing the darkness in full honesty needs redemption. It needs to be restored. Showing the evil and
depression for the sake of candor alone can lead to cynical thinking and
bitterness for both the author and reader. It does nothing other than continue
to push people down the path of hopelessness. It adds to the muck.
We can’t stop at the brokenness. We
need to strike candles. We need to find ways to bring hope.
This has become evident to me in my own
writing of poems and in my first fantasy novel. I’m not a naturally funny
person, and the idea of creating enough emotion to make someone cry over my work
fascinates me. I tend to write serious-toned, solemn, and grim works. It can be
depressing. My brother pointed out that I need to loosen up a bit. He’s right.
I look at my work, and I feel like I’m drowning in the dark.
I’ve done my part in showing the bad, but now
I need to show the light. I need to show the goodness. I need to give the hope.
What is the Light?
Before you can show it, though, you need to
know what the hope is in your story.
It’s not always “happily ever after. The
End.”
It’s the goodness despite
the evil, the triumph of truth over
lies, the courage
while in the fear. It’s love
overcoming hate, selflessness giving till it can’t give anymore, and peace
when the world is crashing down.
It’s what your hero needs most in his blackest
hour to pull him through. As Mr. S. teaches, it’s not taking him out of his
situation, but instead, giving him the grace to withstand it.
Bart Millard, singer in the MercyMe band and
author of the popular song I Can Only Imagine, told a story of how
his group had the opportunity to welcome home a group of American soldiers
returning home from one of the most dangerous and colossal missions in history.
One officer approached them with tears in his
eyes and told them that he’d lost every single man under his command. Only he survived.
He spent a lonely night walking the desert
with his loaded gun in one hand, listening to I Can Only Imagine over and over. That song was his light, his
hope, his
comfort in his darkest moment. God didn’t take that soldier out of
his situation. He brought him through it with grace through that song.
I find that so powerful. Don’t you want your work to be that kind of
fire and hope for someone? I sure
do.
Lighting the Candle at Last
In
Part II, I mentioned that the evil
needs to be turned to good. Don’t just write evil for the sake of having evil in
your story. The dirtiness must add to the reality of the story world; it must
have purpose. It comes back to the questions of, “Am I delighting in this?”
and, “What is my motivation for this?”
The
evil must be redeemed. How can it be turned to good? Ask yourself, “What light is
this darkness making shine brighter?”
If
there’s no light there, then you need to fix it. It doesn’t need to be seen
right away. Sometimes, in life, we don’t know why the things that are happening
are happening, but we can always rest assured that God is using it for His
glory, He’s turning it into something good.
Your
story doesn’t have to have a happily-ever-after ending. There can still be
hurt. We don’t always get the answers. But how does the evil make the Hero’s
good more beautiful?
We
sinned (bad). Jesus had to die, because He was the sacrifice for our sin (still
bad). But He used His death to rescue us, to save us, to cleanse us. He used
His death to show us His great love, and that love wouldn’t shine as bright
without Him having to die for our
unrighteousness, in our stead. And that’s good.
It brings hope because true light always overpowers the darkness.
Andrew Peterson said it well in his song Is He Worthy? He openly
shows the brokenness of the world, then turns it around with the confident line,
“But do you know that all the dark won’t stop the light from getting through?”
And the answer?
“We do.”
…
What
is the light that will redeem all the darkness in your story? What light did
the darkness make more beautiful?
…
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