The saying now is, “Every cloud has a silver lining”. John Milton coined the phrase ‘silver lining’ in Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634

I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honour unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

I remember getting exposed to John Milton in high school and for the first time in my education to that point, poetry made sense to me. There was something about Milton’s brooding yet honest grasping for something “more” that resonated with me.

I think that I am in good company with many others on this. Almost 400 years after Milton penned the words “did a sable cloud turn forth her silver lining”, they are stilll with us, though now modified. We use them with great ease to define how we navigate through those difficult times when dark clouds are hovering over our lives and we are searching for meaning. We even divide people up between those who only see the clouds (grumpy, negative and pessimistic) and those who manage to see the silver lining in those clouds (happy, positive and optimistic).

But for Milton, I don’t think it really was about the cloud or its silver lining as the end point. I think it might have been about how each functioned to help Milton navigate through his “tufted grove” with a right perspective…with honour intact.

Though it is still used, “tufted” is not as common a word today as it would have been in Milton’s time. It speaks to density created by outlying and regular depressions. Check out your mattress sometime. Unless yours is simple and a standard minimum, it probably has a tufted texture created by the stitching which forms patterned depressions and by doing so also creates pockets of density. The depressions and density together make your mattress more comfortable to sleep on, increasing the possibility for a good rest.

As Milton reflects, it is not lost on him that the sable (dark) cloud is positioned to cause a redirect of light from the One committed to guarding his life and honour as he navigates his tufted grove. The point for him is to let his eyes follow the silver lining that the cloud reflects to its source, until he sees more – the “Supreme Good”.

What’s my point.

Our lives are filled with highs and lows, densities (mountain tops) and depressions (valleys). Ours is not to see either just the dark clouds (and become pessimistic) or just their silver lining (optimism to the point of denying reality) but, first, to see that there is no silver lining without the clouds.

Then, it is for us to receive equally both the sable clouds and their gleam of the silver lining as a gift given to help us discover “more.” We are invited to look beyond both to the same “Supreme Good” Milton learned to see; he who sent the glistering guardian to meet our need and bring us to rest, because he is committed to guarding our life and honour as we navigate through our own tufted grove.