As I move from the darkness of the outside into the dimly lit building, the glow of exit signs provide just enough light to lead me to my destination. I reach to the left just inside the door and toggle four switches upward. Slowly, high overhead, like a morning sunrise the glow of the lights become increasingly brighter until the gym is filled with light. And as the light increases I can feel my own energy doing likewise.
The gym was my refuge for the pervasive dark days of winter. The bright lights coupled with an unbounding love of basketball lifted my spirits when much of the outdoors was damp and gloomy.
What I know now is that I instinctually crave light. That my body, mind, and soul is deeply impacted by what I experience as endless exposure to darkness.
What I also know now is how I need to be very intentional about moving out of the darkness to places that shine the brightness of light upon me.
Each day for the next month will become more and more dark. There is also much in our world that feels like a pall has been placed over it.
Yet just on the other side of the darkest day, late in the evening, accompanied by joyful, hopeful music, we will hear proclaimed no greater truth, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Jn 1:5). Reminding us once again of Victor Hugo’s simple but profound words from Les Misérables, “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
In these dark days, where will we seek out the light? And, as importantly, where will we bring the light?
I find these words from Thomas Merton particularly inspiring: “It is in everybody, and if we could see it, we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of the sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely.”
BP