A light of Hope in the Darkness

Today is the first day of winter. The Winter Solstice. And while I am usually a joyous person during the Advent and Christmas Seasons, today, I feel the darkness of this time as well. Not just that today has the least amount of sunlight of the year, but that an absence of Hope still exists. 

I received an email yesterday from the church that one of our members, a man about my age, had died by his own hand. He had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and was to start treatment the day he took his life. He had met with our pastor, and the email shared that he was in a good place spiritually. 

I won't judge here. I won't speculate on what changed. I won't guess as to where he was spiritually. That's between the man and God. So, today I prayed for his family, losing a son so close to Christmas - a traditional family holiday. I prayed for us at the church who knew him and liked him, which included me. He had left our church for a while to attend another one closer to his home. But then he returned because he felt that our church was his "home". I liked him, and I was always glad to see him at church, and I made a point to greet him any Sunday he was there. 

But I did ask myself why was he without hope? Why a man who professed to be a follower of the Living God chose to do something that seemed to be a surrender to hopelessness? Yes, that may seem judgmental, but it was something I was asking myself as well. For you see, I, too, have been diagnosed with cancer. And while my form of cancer is not as serious, I am in a brotherhood with this church friend. I am in this brotherhood and sisterhood of those who have cancer. For some in this brotherhood and sisterhood there is no hope. For some, like me, the survivability of my cancer with treatment is high. So I have a strong hope of a long and fulfilling life. But for some in this brotherhood or sisterhood, they are perpetually in the darkness of a Winter Solstice, where light seems so far away. There is no hope of survival. The day is short and the night seems so long. 

I have no answer, and this post is not meant to provide an answer. I can say, though, that I understand. I understand when hope seems so distant. I understand when the day seems so short and the night seems so long. But just when I feel like the darkness is too deep to overcome, the words of St. Francis of Assisi ring in my ear: 

"where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy."

The Light of Hope in the Darkness. This is the promise of God to us, the promise revealed in His Word, from the Old Testament to the New Testament: 

"And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth...." 2 Samuel 23:4, KJV

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:4-5, ESV

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." John 8:12, ESV.  

What we must remember about the Winter Solstice is that each progressive day will be lighter and lighter. That while things are so dark now, light is coming. We must grasp onto that - the Hope of light returning, and vanquishing the darkness.

Soli Deo Gloria