In the darkness

There is an old proverb, first recorded by Thomas Fuller, "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." The dawn is the beginning of a new day when everything is fresh and born anew. When we look east each morning and see the sunrising, we always know that we can begin again. There was a time when the whole world would look East to welcome each new day. Even in the darkest of days when the castles that have been built in the sand are on fire and the tide is coming in, people still looked East. Why look to the sunrise and the East though? The answer is a simple act of faith, but not faith in a man or a woman. We look to the sunrise because the One who created the whole of the universe wrote into our hearts hope in a new day. Hope not in a person, but just Hope. Hope in the darkness as freshly lite candle begins to glow brighter. Hope is not an abstract idea, as the sunrise reminds us. The sunrise is not abstract it is concrete and very real, hope is real as well. In the darkest hour the world has ever known Hope showed us a new light. In the hour humanity committed deicide, Hope stepped forward and took the strips for our sins. In the darkness Hope stood up and allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross. We are given a sunrise to remind us that after the darkness of the night, Hope has risen. People look east the Son has risen; Hope has risen.

To day is the very beginning of the sunrise. Christmas is the day when the Light came into the world to shine for all. Some choose not to see the Light, others only want to see parts of the Light so it is easy and not bright enough to change their lives. Others look straight into the Light and everything changes. Once we look fully into the Light nothing can ever be the same. Everything burns with a fire bright reflecting the Light. In the darkest night we become the lights reflecting the only real Light in the universe. Shine on the world around you.