I found myself recently pondering the winter solstice. Actually, I found myself pondering the day AFTER winter solstice.
Somewhere around December 21 each year (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway) we experience the shortest day of the year, with the least amount of sunlight. From that point forward the days start having a little bit more sun and a little less dark. Coming home from work and it already being dark out is never fun. I love the day after winter solstice, the day that marks the start of longer days. It’s as if the world takes a deep breath and hope starts to grow.
As I reflected on this I thought about the hard times in life… the times that seem like they’ll never end… the dark days of winter in life. I think about the moments after a loved one dies when the family and friends feel like the days just get darker and darker as they continue to grieve. I consider a friend who has been battling trauma and sufffering for more years than I even know, and just when it seems to settle, the darkness sets in again. I wonder about how many people around the world found out some horrible news today that will change their lives forever and a dark shadow was cast. We’ve all experienced (or will) at one time or another… the seasons when winter never seems to end.
But there is hope.
The day after the darkest day will come.
I was brought to tears recently as I heard a friend say, for perhaps the first time in 18 months, “I’m doing so well.” Her life is not perfect and the pain of this long “winter” season is not completely over with, but the days are getting longer, brighter… there is more light each day. There is hope.
In an earthly sense, winter will come again. It’s a cycle we can depend on. Winter turns into spring, into summer, into fall, and back to winter. On the emotional side of things we can predict this cycle as well… we will face hard times again. As long as we live on this earth, that is a given. But the cycle of literal seasons give us hope that spring will come again in the emotionally hard seasons. Also, there is hope for the day when that cycle will break and the light will grow ever brighter into eternity.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. … I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” … And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory.” Revelation 21: 1-4, 23-24
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