Crossing the Dark Cultural Hall

Often, the darkest room in the church I attend is the Cultural Hall. It's basically a basketball court in the middle of the church, with hallways and classrooms all around it. Because of its central location, it's a great shortcut for traveling from one corner of the building to th other, or even just for slipping passed the crowds that gum up the hallways. Yet, because it doesn't have an exterior wall, it also doesn't have any windows, so when the lights are off, the only light in there are the EXIT signs and light coming in under the doors. Yet, even when it's near pitch black in there, the light under the doors at least tell me where the doors are, so I can easily travel from one door to another, making effective use of the shortcut, even though I have to walk through near total darkness to do so.

My confidence in traversing the dark cultural hall stems mostly from the fact that I can see my destination. As long as I know where I'm going, I can just walk in that direction, and I know I'll get there. In theory, this could almost work as an analogy for life. We can't always see as well as we would like, spiritually, but we know where we're trying to go, so as long as we keep heading in that direction, we should be fine.

However, there is one problem with this analogy: the cultural hall typically doesn't have any obstacles in it, but real life always does. We face countless challenges in mortality, and seeing them clearly tends to be essential to overcoming them and avoiding them. Without spiritual light, we're doomed. If there were obstacles in the cultural hall, they could cause serious problems for anyone who tries to pass through it. However, the cultural hall has something that life doesn't have: a light switch at every door. With those light switches, I could easily turn on a light in the cultural hall and not have to try to cross a shortcut in the dark. In real life, the obstacles are often much harder to spot and avoid, though with enough spiritual light, it is still possible.

Navigating through life is much more difficult than crossing an empty room, but as long as we keep headed toward our destination and have at least enough light to see the obstacles in our path, we should be alright.