Acceptance is not the same as liking, or being happy about it, or even condoning. It is simply seeing something the way it is and saying, ‘that’s the way it is…’ ”

— Peter McWilliams

There truly is a law of acceptance. The mystery behind the way of the light is its need to pass through darkness to be seen and understood as light. Lightning strikes only when the darkest of clouds gather.Rain, the living water, the source of life, comes only after the dark clouds gather. No rain comes from a shiny sky. No water.

Often, when the dark clouds of trials and pain gather around us, we try to run away from them into the shinier spaces either by denying the trial itself or by shifting the burden to someone else to bear. Allowing for the darkness of the trial, accepting, and … being grateful for it, is like welcoming the dark clouds that bring the living rain. First the cloud, then the rain. First the trial, then the blessing. First the darkness, then the light.

Once you clearly see things the way they are and choose to learn the lessons that they offer, you can find the light-based solutions. Resistance blinds. Acceptance opens your eyes. Accept, so you can change. Accept, so you can grow. Accept, so you can shine.