Happy Labor Day! And that means it’s the sort of end of summer. The warm weather will continue but the kids are back in school and the leaves are starting to change. This begins my favorite time of the year; warm days and cool nights. I want to take a moment to honor all of you who labor and that means everybody. Because we all labor in some way to make the world a better place, whether you work inside the home caring for your family or outside the home making money to support your family or both, I honor you today. But now I want to talk about a different kind of labor.

This picture is from the Dolomites in Italy. I had the pleasure of going with a choir from Boulder to sing at the Alta Pusteria Choir Festival last year. It was an emotional trip for me for several reasons. It was the first vacation my husband and I had together in over 20 years without our daughter. But the other reason was because I almost died a few months earlier. I thought I had the flu but had developed blood clots in my lungs several weeks after surgery. If I had waited one more day I would not be here. While in Italy I couldn’t walk or hike as much as I wanted to, but it was wonderful to be alive and enjoying singing with great people. I felt so blessed when I woke each morning and looked at the mountains from my bedroom window. I had survived.

I recently came across this quote from Katherine MacKenett: “Now, every time I witness a strong person, I want to know: What dark did you conquer in your story? Mountains do not rise without earthquakes.” What dark have you labored to conquer? None of us is perfect and we all our problems and faults. The question is: What are you going to do about it? You have the choice and the power to conquer the darkness and become strong like a mountain or you can stay in the darkness. No matter what your darkness, financial problems, children getting into trouble, caring for elderly parents, health issues or your own personal demons of despair or addiction, understand that you are not alone. Everyone faces the darkness. So just keep making baby steps until you see the light. When you are a mountain, the earthquake is over and you have survived.

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