The holes let the light in – you’ve surely heard this, or a variation thereof, at some point in your life. The great Leonard Cohen phrased it: “There is a crack in everything, that is how the light gets in.” I have relished that line, that thought, for years. But as I have aged, and interacted with people who were under great stress, emotions raw, I think….I believe….that the opposite might actually be true. I believe the cracks, the holes, are how the light shines out from within.

We are extraordinary beings, humans. We possess great breadth and depth of capacity. We are the proverbial icebergs, our barest and most minimalist tips showing in the seas of life and living. And for oh so many of us, the wonders of who and what we are lie hidden deeply within in us. Some people live their entire lives untested, unattacked, and unbesieged to any great extent and the depths of their individual wonder never had cause to be revealed to the world. It is, as someone once said, extraordinary how extraordinary the ordinary person can be.

Astounding wisdom, deep spiritual insight, monumental courage, towering integrity, or relentless forward drive with the winds of adversity full in the face are only called upon in the darkest of moments, which is why I believe what we see is not the light being let in, but the dazzling display of internal brilliance being let out from within. The more dire the circumstance, the greater the odds against us, the deeper we reach for the strength, the power, to overcome. We humans rise to the occasion; the worse things are, the higher we rise. And yet throughout one’s entire life, the brilliance of that light will never show unless needed.

May the worst of the moment reveal the best of the person – an adage I finally coined after years of pondering and consideration. And it dovetails beautifully into this little missive dear reader. The more overwhelming the odds, the mightier the adversity, the more extraordinary the ordinary person will become.

Remember that in your daily battles; your worldy wars. There is far more within you than you may ever know, But trust that if and when you need it, the light will burst forth from within you with the brilliance of a thousand suns. Indeed, I truly believe the magnificence of the ordinary human is beyond measure and the holes and cracks are there to let the light out.