There is usually no good way out of the situations we get ourselves into. At least, it seems that way. In hindsight, however, sometimes the dumb things we do and are done to us turn out to have had something more than a silver lining. They had unintended good consequences, if we have the wit to see them. And sometimes a prayer uttered in hurt or embarrassment or confusion is answered, and the clinging fog of life clears for a time. Things weren't what they seemed to be. And on occasion we have the wisdom to do or say something that brings healing into the dumb situations we find ourselves trapped within.
Without being naive about it, there are paths through the Valley of the Shadow, the Valley of the Fog. The wrongs we do and the ones done to us—there are healing ways through them. Unintended consequences themselves have unintended consequences, which don't exactly make things easier but do eventually bring us out of the fog into the light of day. Embedded even in our worst are other ways, what those of us who hold a theist's faith might call God's Ways. Our prayer is, "Lord, help me to find one of your Ways." Amen.
