Lurking

lurking

/ˈlərkiNG/

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adjective

adjective: lurking

1. remaining hidden so as to wait in ambush.”the trumpet fish is a lurking predator”
   • (of an unpleasant quality) present in a latent or barely discernible state, although still presenting a threat.”he lives with a lurking fear of exposure as a fraud”

No one who enters the contrast of life exits unwounded. In the world between irrelevance and relevance lurks the monsters that damage us. They rip holes in our lives. Some holes can never be repaired in this life.

“Wait is a verb” was all she said. I was perplexed at her answer. It had been years since we had spoken, since my friend and her husband died. He had stopped at a street light one stormy afternoon. In the span of one moment, between red and green, a tree fell on his truck and he was gone. One phone call and her world was forever changed-a hole that would never be filled. A darkness overstepped its boundary and swallowed up her world.

How does one survive in the darkest corner of contrast? She shared her paralysis, of being immobilized by Death’s uninvited darkness. She spoke of her return to the light with four simple words: “Wait” is a verb. It is an action. It is choosing not to be paralyzed by the darkness. Waiting feels like nothing. But in truth it is a “something,” a movement toward the light, a shift out of the corner back toward the center.

I have other friends who did not wait and never exited the darkness. I choose not to judge because I never encountered the monsters that lurked in their contrast.

We all have Lurkers that hide along our journey to find relevance. Often we can not run or hide when they cast their net of darkness over us. But we can choose to wait.