05/17/2026
Beautiful words from my friend Ashley Pippins. Thank you, Ashley. ♥️
I think some people in life become torch bearers.
To be a torch bearer is to choose light while walking through darkness.
People whose experiences shape them through grief, hardship, loss, disappointment, responsibility, or seasons that force them to mature deeply. The torch is often lit in pain.
But instead of allowing those experiences to harden them, they allow those experiences to refine them.
Torch bearers are often the people who instinctively carry light into dark places. The calm one in crisis. The encourager. The mentor. The safe place. The one who notices who is hurting because they understand what it feels like to walk through darkness themselves.
Our experiences shape us and impact the disposition we carry into the world. Some people carry bitterness from what they endured. Others choose to carry wisdom, compassion, gentleness, resilience, and hope forward instead. Focused deeply on the beauty.
The easier response is often to shut down, become bitter, disconnect, or protect yourself from feeling deeply. But torch bearers stay present. They keep their hearts soft. They continue to serve, encourage, pray, love, and bring light even when they themselves are hurting.
That doesn’t mean torch bearers are perfect or unaffected by life. They still grieve. Still wrestle. Still get tired carrying heavy things. But their lives become evidence that pain does not always have to end in destruction. Sometimes it becomes illumination.
And often, without even realizing it, they help other people believe: “Maybe I can survive this too.”
