Light is Coming

From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised.

Psalm 113:3

I have never in my life been a morning person. I have always preferred to experience the sunset and enjoy the calm of evening rather than the expectant hustle of morning preparation. Perhaps it is an issue of aging, or perhaps I just have too much on my mind these days but I suddenly find sleep elusive and as a result, I am forced  to witness the birth of each new day. What a glorious gift it is...even if I am sometimes witnessing it through eyes that are blurry and sleep deprived.

I sit and stare out my window at darkness. I pray. I think. I sometimes write. I enjoy the sounds of my sleeping household. Ever so patiently and serenely the world begins to take shape around me. It begins with the first shadowy outlines of the trees outside my window. The sky begins to turn a lighter shade of black and the world stands in dark contrast. Light is coming. 

Another glance out the window and suddenly the trees are visible and the first splash of color spreads across the sky. Light is coming.

Hues of blue begin to deepen...clouds of red, purple, pink dot the horizon. Light is coming.

I have not yet seen the light. The sun has yet to peak above the edge of the earth but all of creation is now proclaiming its imminent arrival. Birds are singing, the colors deepen and signs of life appear...because light is coming.

From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised. The earth is in full praise mode today. I think I shall be also...because light is coming.

The Advent season is over but the Christmas season is at hand. On Christmas Eve we lit the Christ Candle and proclaimed that into the world has come a great light...Christ, our King. It is a bold proclamation to make given the deep darkness of the world around us. However, in the flames of that candle something else becomes visible: the outline of hope, the first shadows of peace, the initial colors of joy...all made possible because light is coming.

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.