For reasons both comforting and curious, the loneliest,
darkest, and coldest time of the year plays host to Christmas. The shortest day
of the year is around Christmas making it the physically darkest holiday, next
to New Year’s, on the calendar. So, the time of year when we are supposedly the
most generous is also the time of year where we are fighting depression and
good old fashioned darkness.
Yet, that’s when the light truly shines.
The current news cycle seems very dark and while I can go
on various rabbit trails lamenting a variety of things, I am reminded that this
time of year always gets dark. Lights on trees and holiday lights on houses,
lining streets, or in the malls announce that something is different. Lights
that flash and lights that look like impromptu runways accompany lights that
spell out encouraging words and lights that point the way to shopping,
restaurants, or special events. All of these lights come when the sun starts to
set earlier in the afternoon.
So, yes, the world is dark. At this time of year, it’s always darker.
But, that’s part of the meaning behind ideas like
generosity, grace, and sacrificial love. “It’s a Wonderful Life,” isn’t about preserving
a mobile, middle class life, but it’s about being attentive to the life we
already have. What would it be like to bring light in to the darker parts of
our world? Frankly, it’s not that difficult to ponder. We simply need to recall
that generosity doesn’t go out of style and can be done all year long. Grace
never gets old and everyone needs it. Sacrificial love changes everything and
is always worth the effort.
As the days get shorter and the darkness extends in to
our afternoons, lights truly do get noticed and truly do make a difference. I’ll list a few quotes so you just don’t take my word for it:
From William Shakespeare—
“How far that
little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.”
From Vincent
Van Gogh—
“Those who love
much, do much and accomplish much, and whatever is done with love is done
well.... Love is the best and noblest thing in the human heart, especially when
it is tested by life as gold is tested by fire. Happy is he who has loved much,
and although he may have wavered and doubted, he has kept that divine spark
alive and returned to what was in the beginning and ever shall be.
continue reading