From Darkness to Light: Part 1

“In the beginning when God created the heavens & the earth, the earth was a formless void & darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’ & there was light. And God saw that the light was good; & God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light; Day, & the darkness; He called Night. And there was evening & there was morning, the first day, & God said; 'Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; & let them be for signs & for seasons & for days & years & let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth' & it was so. God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day & the lesser light to rule the night & the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day & over the night & to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening & there was morning, the fourth day.”

“In the beginning was the Word & the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him & without Him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in Him was life & the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness & the darkness did not overcome it. And the Word became flesh & lived among us & we have seen His glory, the glory as of a Father’s only Son, full of grace & truth. From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses: grace & truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God, the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made Him known.”.

From the beginning of time & through the vast majority of faith & wisdom traditions; “Light” has been associated with the Divine Holy Being, our Creator. Light was the first thing God created & itself is often used as a metaphor of God, who illuminates all seasons of life for us. There is nothing concrete about light; Divine nor physical. Whether it is Divine light which refers to God, or physical light, it is rather illusive, yet we all know what light does. Light illuminates, physically, emotionally & spiritually. We need light to live. It brings us wholeness. In fact, with very few exceptions there would be no life without light.

It has been said, “Where there is light, there must be shadows, where there are shadows there must be light. There are no shadows without light, & no light without shadows.” Though we cannot avoid shadows of life, we can choose how we are going to navigate through them. The view that we hold in any particular season, whether a season of light or darkness, affects the state of our mind, body & spirit. When we choose to view life from the place of shadows, it affects our health negatively & at the very least, delays healing. When we choose to view life, walking in the light, it affects our whole health in positive ways & promotes healing of our mind, body & spirit.

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Pastoral Care Minister with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy