The Dark Night of Your Soul

Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

When you are having an adventure, you wish you were safe at home. But when you are safe at home, you wish you were having an adventure.

Every adventure is marked by setbacks, disappointments, and difficulties. Without trouble, there can be no adventure.

Our love of movies, video games, and sporting events proves our craving for adventure, for what are these but a celebration of people overcoming setbacks, disappointments, difficulties, and problems?

What are you facing today?

What must you overcome?

What is your current adventure?

Adventure is exciting when the vision of a glowing future shines brightly in your mind. But when we have no vision of a happy outcome, we walk in darkness.

Jesus spoke of this phenomenon in the sixth chapter of the book of Matthew.

“Your vision is the lamp of your body. If you see the world clearly, your body will be full of light. But if your vision is distorted, the light within you will be darkness. And if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

When our vision is distorted, we lose hope.

Please understand that I am not talking about mental illness. I don’t pretend to have a cure for that. But I do know a thing or two about sadness, confusion, frustration, and loneliness.

One out of every four people you encounter today will be hiding deep sadness, confusion, frustration, or loneliness. They won’t let you see it, but it is there.

This is the cure you have within you: You can listen intently when a person is speaking, so that the person feels seen and heard. You can smile and nod, so that the person feels accepted.

You have the power to make other people feel valued.

Each of us needs to be seen, and heard, and missed when we are absent.

You can shine a light into the darkness.

And sometimes, that is enough.

Roy H. Williams

NOTE: Today we celebrate the 13th anniversary of MondayMorningRadio, hosted by our own Pulitzer-nominated roving reporter, Dean Rotbart. Next week’s episode will be number 600! Can you believe it? And last month we quietly celebrated the 30th anniversary of the MondayMorningMemo. How many of you have been subscribers since the days when it was delivered by FAX? Aroo. – Indy Beagle

Gwendolyn “Wendy” Bounds, an award-winning broadcast reporter, was an eyewitness of 9/11. In his book, September Twelfth: An American Comeback Story, roving reporter Rotbart describes Wendy Bounds as telegenically attractive, “with big chocolate-brown eyes, a sparkly broad smile, and shoulder-length buttery blond hair blended with honey highlights.” Today, the long-time desk jockey is ripped, with muscular arms, strong and toned legs, and broad, well-developed shoulders. Wendy has transformed herself into a competitive Spartan racer, running through mud pits, crawling under barbed wire, swinging across monkey bars, and hoisting sandbags as she navigates obstacle courses. “It is never too late to achieve your full potential,” Wendy writes in a new book, out tomorrow (June 18). “Age,” she tells the roving reporter and his deputy, Maxwell, “can be a secret weapon.” Age. Learn how to use it, at MondayMorningRadio.com