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.