From Forward Day by Day
John 16:16 A little while, and you will no longer see me.
When I look back across my life so far, and especially when I read my journals, it is in the dark times when I was feeling quite alone that I experienced the most transformation. I’m grateful for writers like Saint John of the Cross and Carl Jung who do not shy away from exploring those deep and dark places and who, following Jesus’ own model, return with greater wisdom through the suffering of the journey.
This fair warning from Jesus in John’s Gospel reassures me during those times when I do not see or experience God in a familiar way. Jesus tells us that he will go away and we will have to wait, but that God will return. When I become overly familiar with the God image I carry around, I am becoming idolatrous. In those times, God may seem to vanish, going away for a little while, leaving me in my own dark night. Then it is time to rest and wait for some fuller experience of God’s presence.
