There were no night lights in our house during my childhood. Actually they didn't seem necesssary at the time. On a moon kissed night, a beautiful glow illuminated the mountains, sky, creek and surrounding landscape. During warm weather, my bedroom window was open while the gentle, flowing "branch" water soothed me to sleep. Night time was more peaceful than fearful.
Times have changed. We use soft lighting inside and outside our homes. We rarely sleep with windows open. Doors are locked with alarms on alert. We are uncomfortable with darkness. We seem more fearful than peaceful.
Yet darkness often exceeds night time on this journey. Life often brings more stress, suffering and struggles than we care to express. Sometimes life pulls us down, pulls us apart, or pulls us away from all we have ever known.
I often think about the darkness that occurred when Jesus hung on a cross. As He suffered, struggled and bore the weight of all sin, He faced immeasurable darkness.
"It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father into Your hands I commit my spirit.' When He had said this, He breathed His last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, 'Surely this was a righteous man.'" Luke 23: 44>47
In the middle of excruciating pain, extreme darkness and impending death, Jesus remembered. He remembered love, which held Him there. He remembered His Father, calling out with a loud voice, as He surrendered Himself completely. He remembered to live each moment, even His last, for God. The centurion observed Jesus during the most horrible, dark and painful moments of His life and death. And the centurion praised God in affirmation.
May moments of darkness in this life remind me to love continually and live authentically for my Risen Lord. May He be the Light of our lives.♥~thl
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