Safe to exhale in the dark

You are holding your breath so the house can sleep. Terrified that a shift of weight, a single sigh, will betray the truth that you are not resting.

You lie perfectly still, a statue in the dark, guarding everyone else's peace with your own silence. But listen — the light does not need you to perform stillness.

It is already here, in the tension of your muscles, in the quiet panic of your chest. Thomas said there is light within a person of light, and it lights up the whole world.

Even now. Even here.

You do not have to freeze yourself to be worthy of it. The light is not afraid of your movement.

It is not startled by your sigh. It is the quiet hum beneath your fear, waiting for you to exhale.

You are safe to be real in the dark.