When The Light Creeps In . . .

Have you ever noticed how things seem so far away in the dark?  If you're reading this at night, just look out your window and take notice of the objects you can see in the darkness.  You may be able to see the outline of a tree in the distance or some other familiar object.  Look at those same objects in the morning and notice how much closer they seem.  I went camping recently and was reminded of this phenomenon.  Sitting around the fire, I found myself gazing off into the distance at a row of trees barely visible by the light of the moon.  In the darkness those trees seemed to be hundreds of yards away.  When the sun shown on that same row of trees the next morning it became apparent that the darkness had hindered my ability to calculate distance, as that same tree line, in reality, was only about half as far away as it seemed in the dark.

Things in the dark just seem so much further away than they do when revealed by the light.  Darkness has a way of almost tricking us into thinking things are further away than they really are.  Even lights seem further away when it's dark.  Look down your street at night and find a light.  It might be a neighbor's porch light or a street sign that's lit up.  Look at it again in the daylight and it will seem so much closer.

Notice I keep using the word "seems."  The distance doesn't change.  The distance only "seems" to change.  The "seems" is my own perspective.

Today is August 12th, 2013, and it marks 8 months since our world was turned upside down and inside out.  It's been 243 days filled with uneasiness, accompanied by moments of excruciating and unbearable pain.  To be honest, there have been days when the darkness sets in with so much intensity that there doesn't seem to be light anywhere.  Forget trying to make out objects in the distance, it seems so dark sometimes that even the possibility of there being objects in the distance doesn't even cross my mind.  Trying to live life day by day is sometimes so overwhelming . . . so . . . dark.

The darkness is unsettling.  In fact, it's been months since I've written anything here because when I have time to sit and dwell on it I feel like I'm almost ushering in or giving the darkness permission to settle in.

But then the light comes.  It's like the rising of the sun each morning.  When the sun rises it doesn't all-of-a-sudden turn from complete darkness to full light in an instant.  Slowly but surely, moment by moment, the sun begins to rise and darkness fades.  But darkness doesn't really fade, it's really that the light appears . . . again . . . just like it did the day before.

I share about the darkness because it's hard to appreciate the light without experiencing the darkness.  Yes, the past 8 months have been difficult, but I'm telling you the sun rises every morning.  Darkness has its way of making things seem far away.  They "seem" far away because the darkness is only my perspective.  Things seem far away because all I can see is the darkness.  The Bible tells us that God is Light and that in Him there is no darkness.

From my perspective Thomas is lost to us for the remainder of our time on earth (darkness).  From God's perspective Thomas has found Him for eternity and has avoided all the hurt and pain of this life (light).

From my perspective it's sad that Thomas is somewhere without his parents (darkness).  From God's perspective Thomas couldn't be happier (light).

From my perspective this pain is unbearable (darkness).  From God's perspective . . . well . . . I don't know . . . but I know God knows what He's doing and sees way more than we do (light).

The darkness limits our view and makes things seem further away than they really are.  God is light.  He sees more than we do and  is so much closer to us than we can ever hope or imagine.