April 28, 2014 Time magazine included a lovely article entitled "Let There be Night". It centers around finding God in the darkest of times but also searching him out in the nighttime skies. The article was wonderful and stated, "Most spiritual seekers spend their lives pursuing enlightenment. But this Eastertide, Barbara Brown Taylor, who ranks among America's leading theologians is encouraging believers and nonbelievers not only to seek the light but to face the darkness too, something the 21st century Americans tend to resist....contemporary spirituality is too feel-good, that darkness holds more lessons than the light and that contrary to what many of us have long believed, it is sometimes in the bleakest void that God is nearest"
PROFUND AH HA moment.
She goes on to state that our spiritual avoidance of darkness may be dangerous. We aer encouraged to get over our darkness, our sadness, and fix it all quickly rather than embrace it and work our way through it...
Never before have I felt closer to God than outside. One evening many years ago we were night hiking out in the Badlands. We decided to climb one of the buttes a few miles in on the trail. I was skeptical and fearful as I could not imagine what was lurking in the darkness...but the beauty of the stars and moon enlightened the ground and surroundings. So it was not completely dark. As we struggled our way up the side of the butte, we finally made it to the top and found our place up there amongst the scoria and grasses. It was truly beautiful and awe-inspiring. It was almost as if you could reach out and touch the stars...reach out to feel the light and touch the face of God. Never had I felt closer to God in all my life...in the darkness reaching out...and seeing the night skies lit up with twinkles and meteor showers. It was an awesome evening and extremely spiritual.
No comments:
Post a Comment