When We Can’t See

In a scene from the 2004 film Ray, about the life of Ray Charles, the titular character flashes back to a time in his childhood, early in his blindness, when he stumbles on his way into the house and calls out for his mother. Though she’s just a few feet away, she says nothing and waits for him to pick himself up. Slowly, he does, listening for cues around him (a teapot’s whistle, a passing wagon, a grasshopper) until he finds her again. “I can hear you too, Mama,” he says, as he knows she’s been there all along (Ray, directed by Taylor Hackford [Universal Pictures, 2004]). In our own dark nights, though we may not be able to see ahead of us, we can be sure that God is there with us all along.