"And every day is a journey through mountains and valleys, and still, by grace, arrive where you are meant to be."

In 24 hours, we experience darkness and light every single day. Each of us lives in the unavoidable tension of highs and lows, peaks and valleys, to and fro. And considering all of this, it is often hard to get into a rhythm and flow. It can be hard to make sense of a world where such strong opposites and paradoxes exist everywhere we turn.

Just as we get into a flow, something changes.
When we're ready for change, everything stays the same.
You get a fantastic opportunity, but something else suffers.
You feel particularly lonely in a crowded, lively space.

Perhaps it would be much easier to only walk in the light or the dark and to carry on with life, always knowing what to expect. But as the natural 24-hour cycle shows us, that's not how it works. We have to trust that through the highs and lows, shadows and light, we will still learn what it means to be alive. And it's not all going to be pretty perfect, but it's not all going to be terrible, either. There will be completely normal days where we wake up, and we're feeling okay with no strong feelings one way or another. And there will be other days or long nights where we swing in one direction or the other, wondering if we still forever are living in the highs or lows. But no matter what, morning comes. Evening comes. We move through all of it, whether we are trying or not.

Our ability to make it through all of this constant change is remarkable. And just because it comes naturally to rise and fall each day, that doesn't mean it's not extraordinary. Hour after hour, you are coming alive. Adapting. Adjusting. Growing.

And in that growth, you start to find joy in the tension of things. You begin to find peace and room to breathe even though you know things are going to change. You start to remember you are on the verge of a sunrise or a sunset at any moment, and you are free to find peace with it.

You have learned: there's always a new day on its way. And every day is a journey through mountains and valleys, and still, by grace, arrive where you are meant to be.

Every day, you are inhaling and exhaling over and over again, not even thinking about it. You carry on filled with life, laughter, stories, and hope without even trying. And I think that that points to just how resilient you are. Through all of the tension, you have learned how to live with, you have also learned how to find hope and joy within it, too. I know that living and "making it through the day" feels like an ordinary task, but I hope you never take for granted all you are accomplishing here — traveling daily through a world of shadow and light, bold black and bright white, learning to be alive, in the tension of all these things.

More tomorrow…
Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols
@thestorytellerco
@morganharpernichols