{"id":125049843,"date":"2023-05-31T13:48:20","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T13:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=125049843"},"modified":"2023-05-31T13:48:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T13:48:20","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-arrow-of-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=125049843","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: Arrow of Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A poem inspired by finding hope in adversity.<\/h2><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/95f3aa23-4f0d-4c5b-9214-9b76cb06eb2b_5184x3456.jpeg\"\/><\/figure><p>(Image description: A photo of a hand holding a lit firework with sparks coming from it.) Credit: Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@cristian1?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Cristian Escobar<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/joy?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a><\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Arrow of Joy<\/h3><p>When stories speak of You<\/p><p>turning back the streams of war<\/p><p>\u2018pon the battlefield in prayer and song<\/p><p>I wonder, searching<\/p><p>What of the war with the self?<\/p><p>Or the conflict from others?<\/p><p>What aid can I find to persevere?<\/p><p>In days of endless dread<\/p><p>what hope can be found in the dark?<\/p><p>I see within the dark<\/p><p>a glint of hope that stirs<\/p><p>my heart, piercing.<\/p><p>Hardest crystal<\/p><p>vibrant and many-hued,<\/p><p>yet painless<\/p><p>It burns with passion,<\/p><p>filling the head and heart<\/p><p>with ideas and joy aplenty.<\/p><p>It defends against despair<\/p><p>true to the soul<\/p><p>the tip aflame, ardent.<\/p><p>Joy strikes my heart,<\/p><p>a friend through uncertainty<\/p><p>a companion despite the woes,<\/p><p>The conflict is long, yet<\/p><p>with sparked joy<\/p><p>I can carry on, dauntless.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A poem inspired by finding hope in adversity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125049843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125049843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125049843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125049843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125049843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125049843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125049843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}