Light Shines in the Darkness

Leslie and Randy Miller

Eastertide, 2023

Reflections upon the International Ministries’ Anti Human Trafficking Trip to Netherlands April, 2023, with Lauran Bethell, in picture and verse.

On pilgrimage in the Netherlands,

our guide is a force of nature

determined to bring beauty

and light into the darkness

The darkened path we trod is surrounded by human brokenness,

illuminated by red lights.

Awash with a kind of soulful homelessness,

we navigate the crowded avenues and canals.

As our sensibilities are challenged, our defenses are mustered,

we journey deeper into the night.

Beyond the cacophony of the street

Poverty lurks on both sides of the windows,

economic for some – existential for others.

Hopelessness abounds beneath the outward façade,

bleak and futile.

And yet, light shines in this darkness

revealing a holy sacredness that the painters and poets discern.

The sky beckons with beauty of luminous clouds

and starry, starry nights.

Tulips dance and brighten the landscapes with beauty.

Disguised holy ones, envoys of light

walk the darkened avenues and streets

radiating glimmers of hope;

carrying dreams of another world to come and now is.

Oh, light shines in the darkness

And the darkness never overcomes it.