Waiting in the Dark

Darkness

Let yourself be in the dark. Pray the questions and the longing. Trust that God withholds what you cannot bear now. Look for lights given in the night. Give thanks for twinkling grace.

Br. Luke Ditewig, SSJE

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Yesterday in conversation with a friend, I learned that she fears the dark, especially this time of year when it comes on so early. She lives alone and said that as the son sets, she always recognizes that there will not be light again until morning, and she mourns. However, she doesn't turn in for the night when the dark comes, but instead she keeps herself busy and happy working at her sewing machine. I thought to myself of the up and down sound of the needle as she creates and passes the time of her angst.

When the meditation above came across my email this morning, I thought of my friend and smiled. Such synchronicity that these assuring words came which might assuage her angst.

As we wait during Advent, we have as many days as we do nights, and so we must look for the answers and the signs "letting ourselves be in the dark, praying the questions and longing, looking for lights and giving thanks for twinkling grace."

Waiting in the dark can be as productive as waiting in the Light, though as Psalm 30 says, "Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning." May you find joy both in the night and in the day. and as Thich Nhat Hanh said, "We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness."