When the Bottom Breaks
Scripture: “The wound is where the light enters you.” – Inspired by Rumi, referenced by Richard Rohr
I don’t think anyone wakes up and says, You know what would be fun today? Hitting rock bottom. And yet, most of us find ourselves there at some point. It’s not on the bucket list, but it has a way of showing up uninvited—through a failed relationship, a health scare, a career unraveling, or just waking up one day feeling completely lost.
For me, rock bottom has a distinctive feel. It’s raw and disorienting, like someone pulled the rug out from under my life, and now I’m free-falling into an abyss I didn’t even know existed.
At first, you panic. You scramble to claw your way back up to the illusion of stability, to pretend nothing has changed. But the truth? Rock bottom doesn’t let you go back.
Richard Rohr says it plainly: “Until you are led to the limits of your present game plan and find it is not enough, you will not search out the real Source.” That’s the frustrating beauty of rock bottom. It’s not a failure—it’s a spotlight, exposing all the cracks in the foundation we’ve built our lives on.
When the Bottom Falls Out
I remember a time when I hit my personal bottom. At first, I tried to carry on as if everything was fine, but the weight of pretending became unbearable. I’d been living a life that looked good from the outside but was crumbling on the inside. And when it finally fell apart, I had no choice but to face the mess.
Rohr says, “Suffering is the only thing strong enough to dismantle the small self.” And let me tell you, that dismantling isn’t pretty. It feels like losing pieces of yourself.
But those pieces? They weren’t the real you anyway.
Brianna Wiest calls these moments “necessary breakdowns.” They’re the times when we’re forced to stop, to strip away the lies we’ve been living in, and to see things as they really are.
Wiest and Rohr both agree: rock bottom isn’t about the fall. It’s about what you do next.
For me, it was a choice: I could keep fighting to rebuild my old life, or I could let go. Rohr calls this “allowing your egoic worldview to fall apart.” It sounds terrifying, but here’s the truth—it’s freeing.
When everything you thought you needed is gone, you finally have space to discover what really matters.
The Wound Is Where the Light Gets In
One of my favorite insights from Rohr is this: “The wound is where the light enters you.” I didn’t get it at first. How could something so painful ever be a good thing? But as I sat with it—really sat with it—I realized he’s right.
The wounds we carry, the ones we want to hide or fix, are often the very places where transformation begins.
The fall doesn’t define you. What defines you is how you rise, not by scrambling back to the familiar but by embracing the new.
Reflection Questions:
- Can you identify a time when you hit rock bottom? What truths did it force you to confront?
- What might God be asking you to let go of in this season?
- How can you begin to see your wounds as openings for growth?
Prayer:
God, in my moments of deepest pain, remind me that you are not distant but present. Help me to see that when the bottom falls out, it’s not the end but an invitation to begin again. Teach me to let go of what no longer serves me and to trust that the light can enter even in my wounds. Amen.
Action Step:
Take a few moments today to write about a time you hit rock bottom. What did you learn from that experience? How did it shape the person you’re becoming?
Closing Thought:
Richard Rohr reminds us, “We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right.” If you’ve fallen, take heart—there’s grace in the getting up. Rock bottom isn’t a punishment; it’s a place where transformation begins. Let the fall be your turning point, and trust that the climb back up will be guided by light, strength, and hope.