Light

It's getting to be the time of year when I think a lot about light.  I don't recall ever thinking this way before moving back to the upper midwest 6 years ago.  I think it's because we're more than halfway to the north pole, and as the earth tips away from the sun, we have less daylight here in November and December than in any of the other places I've lived.  We also don't have street lights where we live, so when it's dark, it's very dark.

As I get older, I'm beginning to hate driving at night more and more.  I don't like not being able to see beyond my headlights--it's such a narrow view.  I was thinking about that last week as I was driving home from somewhere. As I drove through a section of road lighted by streetlights, I thought, hmmm, this is nice--I can actually see what I'm driving through, but it wasn't enough, though.  Those artificial lights, our feeble human attempts at dispelling the darkness, are nothing compared to the sun.  And the light of the sun is nothing compared to the light of the Son.

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.

Isaiah 9:2

Curiously, it usually seems much lighter to me in January, when in reality, near the beginning of January we have even less daylight than we do now, in November.  I think it's because every year, at the end of December, I'm reminded, in a powerful way, that Christ, the Light of the world, has come into the world to shine His light into the deepest, darkest places.

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light,

so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done

has been done in the sight of God.

John 3:21