On January 1st we had 9:01:01 hours of daylight. Today we will enjoy 9:21:41 hours of daylight. 21 minutes doesn’t seem like much in a 24 hour day but it sure seems like a lot when it means the sun will brighten the sky for that much longer on a January day. It seems to me that January days are either cold and gray with overcast skies or brilliant and sunny with a sky so blue it almost hurts to look at it. Yesterday was a blue sky day. Today, where I am, the sky is as gray as a muddy puddle and the damp weather chills to the bone. I like sunny, blue sky days better!
It is interesting to me how people feel the need for light. For some of us, darkness can wrap around and bring a sense of comfort and coziness, but for many of us our moods are brightened when there is an abundance of sunlight. In fact SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, can be debilitating for some people. The need for light is so fierce that they feel a slump of energy, become moody, and have to cope with depression.
In the church year, the season after Christmas is Epiphany and its symbolism is light – star light, candle light, moon light, sun light, Christ the light, you name light is light and Epiphany celebrates the coming of light into our world.
Yesterday sunrise was 7:47 and the sun set at 5:07. Today the sun rose at 7:46 and will set at 5:08. We get an extra 1:47 minutes of daylight. Last week, one afternoon, I looked out and realized it wasn’t dark yet. After the weeks of early darkness it felt so refreshing to see the lengthening days.
This coming Sunday, at church, we will sing, “A Light is Gleaming”. One of the lines reads, “So let us live in the brightness God has giv’n, and let us rise to see the dawn.” Well, I am not very good at rising to see the dawn but I do enjoy that the sunset is a little later each day. But there is also a line that says, “When light comes pouring into the darkest place, it hurts our eyes to see the glow.” Are there times when you prefer to stay in the shadows? Or when the light just seems too much to bear? How does light effect you? Are you longing for light or is sitting in the shadow where you need to be right now? I am interested to know how light effects you and if this is a season of comfort or challenge for you.
Indeed I subscribe to the light side, brilliance please, the more the better except when it comes to some new kind of night time signage seen along the roadside that is blinding, as can be an emergency vehicle. Then when I turn my eyes away they don’t perceive any thing much in the remaining dimness. Similarly sometimes truth can appear in a subtle contrast from falsehood and as the shadows abate things become more obvious.
This leads us to having fun with metaphors which can lead us all over the place. A Son tan holiday known as a retreat, a good idea shown as a lightbulb, the modern medical miracle of looking at the inside on one’s bladder on a screen…..talk about where the sun don’t shine.
A couple of things don’t change however, the sun stays on as we dance around it, and a well composed sermon is like a ray of sunshine.
Hey Stan – always good to hear/read your slightly tongue in cheek but insightful comments. Hope you are keeping well in these January days.
I have the deepest sympathy for anyone suffering from SAD. This time of year must prove to be the most difficult of any other. I personally prefer indirect light (ie. candles, mini fairy lights) but the power of the summer sun is undeniable. I do seek the sun but not the spot light. But even more importantly, light comes from within and if I can share that with anyone, then it is a good day. I truly celebrate Dec 21 as the days offer more sunlight, however, miniscule. It only gets better from here forward
Over the years I have learned to welcome the season of darkness and to enjoy its particular gifts … and … I also enjoy the return of the light and the longer days. I find it to be a re-assuring cycle in its predictability. When we lived near the equator where it always gets light at 6:00 AM and it always gets dark at 6:00 PM, I felt a little out of sorts. It seemed like the movement of time had somehow stopped!