“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy is when (wo)men are afraid of the light.”~Plato

Neither of our children ever seemed to be afraid of the dark when they were small. Though, like most parents, we spent our fair share of sleepless hours going back and forth between rooms calming restless minds and legs, I don’t remember that darkness was what kept them awake in the night. More often it was an anxiety that had taken up a home in them. Anxiety over something or someone at school. Anxiety over wanting to do well, over fearing that they had not. Anxiety over being unable to fall asleep. These kinds of mind-bending thoughts can fill the darkness of night with a fear that overwhelms but it is not the lack of light that haunts. It is what we imagine will come, might come, may never come with the coming of the morning light.

As I have been sitting with and exploring this dance of darkness and light, I came across this quote of the philosopher and ancient one, Plato. It reminded me of the Marianne Williamson poem in which she writes of how most of us are more frightened of success than of failure. That somehow bringing forth into the world what is most true and light-filled about ourselves and having that embraced is much more fear-producing than falling flat on our faces in front of those we love and those we don’t. I believe both these wise ones speak great truths across centuries.

Over the last weeks I have been participating in Julia Cameron’s study The Artist’s Way:Creativity as a Spiritual Practice. Much of this amazing process is a path of noticing and recovery of the creative life we once knew as children, the creative life that aligns us with our Creator and invites us to be fully the person we were created to be. In many ways it is an invitation to wrestle with what frightens us in the darkness and to walk fully in the Light. Over the span of these sessions with folks who are also committed to this process of recovering their own light drenched path, I have been blessed to watch ideas flow, minds expand, hearts open and spirits healed. This is Light.

As I have been tying together the threads of this quilt of light and darkness that is our gift in Advent, I have been thinking over and over of the words of the adult Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Thomas: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” 

As human beings we are constantly doing a dance with darkness and light. The fear that is born of our darkness can confront us and call to the deepest part of who we are. So, too, the light calls to us, urging us to the fullness of what it means to be created in the Image of the One who breathed life into us, the One who lures us to reflect goodness and holiness into the world.

How are you making your way around the dance floor with darkness and light these Advent days? What fears do you hold for the night and the day? What lies within you waiting to be brought forth, waiting to be born, waiting to save you? 

Blessings on your nighttime. Blessing on the light that illumines your days.