What can I learn from this? What good will come of it? These are good questions to ask in any situation. They are especially good to ask when disaster strikes, catastrophe surrounds us, and we feel burdened. There’s always something good to emerge if we will look for and welcome it. Unfortunately, instead of asking empowering questions to draw positive energy, we sometimes get caught up in a negative spiral with questions like Why did this happen? What did I do to deserve this? – looking for a place to lay blame. You’ll get an answer on who or what to blame, but it will just keep you stuck in the role of victim. Helpless, hopeless victim.

It’s far better to live in your strength and power and counter the negative vibes with the truth and a positive outlook. It’s better to ask empowering questions like What good can come of this? It’s not easy to pursue what is good. It’s much easier to fall into complaining and negative space if that’s what we’ve always done. But what fun and joy it is to pull out of that spiral and find what good is coming our way.

I’m reminded of a passage from Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr’s book, The Wisdom Pattern. In chapter 11 he writes, “We forget that darkness is always present alongside the light. Pure light blinds. Only the mixture of darkness and light allows us to see. Shadows are required for our seeing.”

In life, we need darkness and we need light. When things seem a bit dark, may we look for the light—for the good—and ask the questions that help us to see it.