Fleeing Darkness

I don’t remember ever being afraid of the dark, but several of my children were. I think one of the reasons I wasn’t afraid of the dark is that I was seldom in total darkness. Total darkness may have scared me, but when I was in darkness there was always a sliver of light coming under the door or wisps of light floating in through a window or some light, however vague, was somewhere. And as long as there was some light, I wasn’t frightened.

I’ve been thinking about this light and dark thing a lot lately and it dawned on me (I love puns!) that darkness isn’t really anything. It isn’t an entity in and of itself at all. Instead it is the absence of something—the absence of light. When you want to get rid of darkness you don’t attack it, or destroy it, instead you add light and the darkness flees.

By the same token, fear isn’t something. Instead it occurs when faith is lacking and when we shine faith onto the fear the fear flees. When we Live in Truth, therefore, it isn’t a matter of chasing away the darkness or even avoiding darkness. Instead Living in Truth means shining light on every aspect of our lives. When we do that the darkness flees.

Turn On The Good!

One of the most amazing things about this beautiful world is how much good there is in it. Any where you look you can find beauty and goodness and wonder. I know if you listen to the political talk shows or read the newspaper it sometimes convinces you otherwise, but there is so much good in life that no one is talking about or noticing and that is a shame.

There is an old story of a young girl who is afraid of the dark. Knowing this her grandmother always tucked her in bed and turned on a nightlight to keep her company while she slept. But one day the grandmother died and the young girl went to bed early crying over the loss of her grandmother. As she laid in her bed crying the dark came and added to her sorrow. Her sorrow turned into fright and she sobbed violently. “Go away dark!” she pleaded through her tears. “I don’t like you. Go away and never come back. I hate you!” But the dark just got darker and darker.

“Go away!” the girl cried again, and suddenly a deep, dark voice bellowed through the room, “You can’t fight the dark! Dark is dark and will always be dark.”

“No!” the girl cried louder and sobbed harder. “No, go away!” But as she spoke a soft, quiet voice that sounded a lot like her grandmother's whispered, “Just turn on the light.” Taking courage, the girl climbed from her bed, switched on the light,and the dark disappeared. “It is true; you can’t fight the dark,” the quiet voice whispered. “But dark can’t exist where there is light.”

Likewise when we dwell on and fight the negative things of life, we often create more negative. But when we dwell on the good and positive in life, we fill our lives with good so there is no room for the negative. So turn on the good!

The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. (Eph. 5:9).

Phantom

I am now in Hanford, California, just south of Fresno. Instead of lemon trees in the yard, Talena has orange trees. It is like being in a foreign land! I love it.

On the way down here we watched the movie Phantom of the Opera and I was struck anew with the symbolism of light and dark. The theme is the same as what we have been discussing--Living in Truth. So much pain in life is unnecessary pain that comes about because we choose it. It is so sad that we suffer so much when all we need to do is let go of the pain and live in truth.

What other plays or artistic works have inspired you that use this theme of light vs.dark or truth vs. illusion? Without thinking too hard, I can come up with several. It is a major theme in literature and art. How have these works touched or inspired you?