Resting Before the Battle Begins

The house is quiet, but your mind is rehearsing a performance for an audience that isn't here yet. You lie perfectly still, terrified that a single shift of your weight will betray the panic rising in your chest.

You are crafting armor for a battle that belongs to tomorrow, while the person beside you sleeps in the peace of this moment. The light does not need your rehearsal to shine — it is already here, in the dark, in the stillness, in the unmasked truth of your breathing.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind, shining long before you ever had to pretend to be okay. You do not have to hold the world together tonight.

The darkness has not overcome it. Rest is not something you earn by finishing your list; it is the ground you are already lying on.