A Bright Side of Darkness
Author: Audrina Jones Bunton

As I sat in my dim bedroom on a September evening, surrounded by candles and oil lamps, I sat not alone, but in the presence of my husband and two children.

I read, as we listened to inspirational songs on my battery-operated radio. Everything appeared silent in the stillness of the night, except for the ripple of the pages, and the occasional movement of one of my beloved.

My heart pulsated as I listened to the inspirational songs that eventually filtered into my very being, releasing tears of thanks and a silent prayer to God for once more keeping me and my family through yet another Hurricane.

Hurricane Isabel swept through with tortuous winds, whistling and ruffling the leaves and trees in our yard, causing us to lose electricity 10 hours ago. But it wasn't the fear of the tempest that absorbed my thoughts, because glancing around the room, I was unpredictably engrossed with thankfulness for the love that surrounded me.

Each of us had claimed a space in our bedroom. My son sat by my side on the bed drawing. My daughter shifted from stretching out on the floor relaxing, to turning my jewelry box into a discovery zone, and my husband sat at the desk sketching a picture that had been a work-in-progress for several weeks.

My reading shifted into heavy thoughts of the happenings of the day. The day had birthed a newfound joy, as we had all worked around the house together, worked on individual goal setting charts, eaten around our candlelit table, and intimately conversed.

As I found myself praying for the lights to come back on, silently and pleasurably, I also, savored the very intimate environment that surrounded me.

In some strange way, I was not ready for the lights to come back on, because then, everything would return to normal, and the intimate moment would vanish with each again magnetized into individual spaces, doing individual things.

Instead of focusing on the darkness, I saw the light -- the ever-so-precious light that surrounded me in the presence of my beloved ones.

Think for moment about a loved one in your life who would gleam from the light of your presence. In the spirit of giving -- what can you do to bring light to that person? Perhaps a good deed, a kind word, a simple hug, or a phone call would do. You would be amazed of the joy that your warmhearted presence could bring in the midst of
someone's dark times.

Today: Pay more attention to the little things that give you joy in the presence of those you love. Think about your happy moments together. Find yourself forgetting about those annoying things, and focus on the positive. Focus on the things that your loved ones do that bring light to your darkness. And likewise, focus on, or create
moments where you are the light in someone else's darkness.

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Copyright 2003 by Audrina Jones Bunton. REPRINTING THIS ARTICLE: Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this article only in its entirety and provided copyright is acknowledged. You can find other articles to choose from at http://www.purposefully-living.com/mailing%20list.htm






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Motivational Speaker, Audrina Jones Bunton was born the seventh of eight children in her household in Pinehurst, North Carolina into a loving and committed Christian home.

A graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology, Audrina is a Competent Toastmaster of Toastmasters International and serves as the North Carolina District Sergeant At Arms. She is a former counselor of the Durham Pregnancy Support Services, a Christian-oriented crisis pregnancy center in Durham, North Carolina and is currently a Social Research Assistant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Audrina is currently studying at the Master's Divinity School in Evansville, Indiana with a combined concentration in Biblical Counseling and IABC certification.

Modeling after a song that her mother so often sings, and one that Martin Luther King, Jr. often quoted, her life and speeches are based on the following lyrics, “If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, Then my living will not be in vain.”

Audrina resides with her husband William, and 2 children, Audrina Lorraine and William Woodrow.

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