Light (12/25/2008)

Below is a poem that I wrote back on Christmas Day, 2008. I wrote it at about 7am local time, 11pm Eastern time, as I was at the time just off the 3-7am watch as my deployed ship was sitting off the coast of East Africa. The idea of light and dark was something that was very prescient to me simply because I stood watches that went from light to dark, watches that were dark the whole way through, and watches that went from dark to light.

While the thought behind this is to take a look at what the shepherds out in the field might have experienced as the heavenly host announced the birth of Jesus, it also considers that there is so much more of the experiences of life that have this same sense of darkness to them, yet there is light because Jesus has come into the world. Even though this is now the day after Christmas, I hope that this offers some encouragement to you that even as the joy of Christmas becomes a memory in recent history, that you would remember that Jesus came into the world a long time ago but the effects continue to this day, all looking forward to His eventual return when there will be no more darkness anymore, but instead we won't even need the sun because the glory of God will be the light by which everything is seen.

Anyway, on to the poem...

It’s dark.

Aside from the few pinpricks of light 

Poking through the darkness of the sky 

Hardly a thing is visible as the wind whips past 

Leaving behind a subtle chill. 

This night is like any other; 

Nothing is happening and nothing is expected. 

Nothing to do but plod along,

Holding out for a daybreak that is supposedly coming, 

Hoping to not fall asleep before the break of dawn.

If this is existence, sleep may not be that bad.

Clouds come in at times

What was merely darkness becomes oppression

As the last specks of light get covered by dark forms

Night is bleakest then

Any light is sought; none is found

Tonight is not that sort of night

But tomorrow night could be.

It grows hard to muster courage

The need to face each new night and keep watch

Gets weighed against the darkness

Darkness seems to be winning

It’s light.

The blind would see this.

More than seen this light is felt.

No daybreak serves as a harbinger of its arrival

The light suddenly fills the sky 

Brighter than any celestial body

Darkness was intimidating

This is terrifying.

And the noise.

A din unlike any heard on earth.

Standing in the light is not hard

No, it is nearly impossible.

But before the fear overcomes every thread of intrepidity

The light brings with it something else

A herald of calm beckons attention

And serenity arrives to the scene

The cacophony melds into a symphony

The chaos becomes a chorus

And the realization settles in

All Is Well

Terror gives way to calm

Feelings of oppression to submission

For with the arrival of light

There is the exit of darkness

The world is bright.

It is dark again

But the darkness is not the same

Though clouds come and go

There remain faint remnants of that light

Never again to give way to totality of utter darkness

Dawn may not yet be near

But the light reminds that it will be coming.

Though darkness fills the sky

And seeks to permeate all the earth

Still that light persists

Holding no less intensity than before

Calming us.

Reassuring us.

Reminding us.

Darkness holds no more.

Love is here.