When I woke up this morning, I was thinking about how the mornings are so dark right now. I know the days are shorter as we approach Winter Solstice. This prompted me to google sunrise and sunset times in my area. Sunrise: 6:53 and Sunset 4:35 – for an official 9 hours and 43 minutes of daylight. Out of curiosity, I decided to read more about Winter Solstice. Throughout history, the Winter Solstice has been viewed as significant by many cultures and as such has been marked by rituals and festivals.

I will admit it – I am a warm weather gal!  I love longer days and when daylight savings time ends, I get a little bit sad.  I remember listening to a sermon in the recent past where the pastor stated that the great thing about Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year is that each day after that gets incrementally longer.  I found comfort in this fact because I love long, sunny, warm days, but also because I believe it relates to life on a more profound level.

We all experience “dark times” in our lives.  If you haven’t, either you are extremely lucky or you haven’t lived long enough to yet experience these darker times.  But just like with the seasonal changes, the darkness doesn’t last and eventually we begin to see the light working its way back into our lives.  It may only be a glimmer at first but eventually, we will have more light. 

As usual, I find that my daily readings have a theme; some by “coincidence” and some by “design.” Today is not different and today’s theme is “light and darkness.” One of my dearest friends gave me a new journal (that is not dated) for Christmas. Today’s Bible verse is: Arise, shine; for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee (Isaiah 60:1). Today’s devotional published by my church is titled “The Luminous Darkness” written by Dr. Kelle Brown. The author references the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She states that Hurston understood the gift of her life to be immersed in luminous darkness. The passage: “It is so easy to be hopeful in the daytime when you can see the things you wish on. But it was night, it stayed night. Night was striding across nothingness with the whole round world in [God’s] hands . . . They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against cruel walls and their souls asking if [God] meant to measure their puny might against [God’s]. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.”

Today as I light my Christmas candles, turn the Christmas lights on, and light the fireplace, I treasure the glimpses of light while also striving to understand, appreciate, and learn lessons from the darkness. 

– Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

http://lebanonfumc.com/advent-devotions-2021/the-luminous-darkness/