Hello Darkness My Old Friend

 

I sit in the comfy confines of my chair

Gazing out the window where creation has transformed into a proverbial winter wonderland

As if the Creator himself is shaking a huge water globe 

And the flakes are loftily falling

Being caught by the wind in a dance of the snowflakes

I breath in the beauty 

As I drink my tea, Earl grey with Cream and a little too much sugar (probably) but no one else will know because I’m not sharing 

The afternoon is a lazy one

With the making of lunch past and supper future, being the only 2 things on my agenda

I love these snow days

Where I can stay in and listen to the wind chimes expressing their music in a symphony of praise 

The daylight is slowly turning towards night

And knows we are one night closer to the longest night

Where darkness falls sooner and lasts longer

Making room in the day for more stillness 

And a chance to experience darkness as a friend

The words of the ballad “Sounds of Silence” play in my thought

“Hello Darkness my old friend”

Who would think there could be gifts in darkness

I’ve known darkness that brought me to my knees

With the cries of my heart mingled with tears

But the darkness of this night coming is different 

December 21st

Midwinter has come.

The winter solstice

Wildlife will hunker down early

Streetlights will come on early and stay on longer in the morning

The darkest night, a time to sit with the radiance of a candle

Light shining into the darkness

For me, representing the Light of Christ into this world.  

The gift of stillness ~ In a season of over-fullness

And a chance to breathe in and out

And to receive the gifts that this silence, this stillness, this longest night has to offer

The gift of darkness ~ a time of quiet reflection as we go in to ourselves and search out what it is we are feeling, knowing, seeing in this dark

The gift of darkness ~ a stillness

Time to sit with the LORD whom I now refer to as LOVE

A gift of rest ~ to celebrate this time where creation is still, stars shine

Creation and the Created we all recognize this give of the longest night

And celebrate this time to breathe and receive.

“Darkness is not the absence of light; 

it is the womb that births the sun.”

 - John O’Donahue