The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5
When I was 6 years old…
The attic was the scariest place in our house…
It was dark…
Its rough boards covered with dust…
Cluttered with old trunks and cabinets holding the treasures of relatives long since dead.
There was one single light bulb in the middle of the attic where the roof climbed to its highest point.
From that high center point, the roof slanted down until it touched the floor on each side…
Leaving small dark spaces around the edges…
Spaces the light couldn’t enter….
Spaces where my imagination grew monsters in the dark..
I usually hurried past the attic door…
Fearing ghosts would slither through the opening beneath it…
One night, instead of rushing past. I stopped.My six-year-old machismo told me I could conquer the monsters in the attic.
I opened the door, turned on the light and climbed the stairs.
Standing in the middle of the attic, I turned around slowly.
It wasn’t as scary as I thought…
Suddenly the light went out, leaving only the light from the hallway below.
Then the attic door closed…
It was dark…
Very dark.
I ran toward the stairs.
In the darkness, I stepped onto what I thought was the floor…
But my foot came down in empty air above the stairs.
I fell, scraping a knee and making a very loud noise.
Footsteps in the hallway…
My mother…who had closed the door not knowing I was in the attic… opened the door again and turned on the attic light.
Darkness receded back into the corners of the attic.
When we are children…
We fear a darkness that holds no real monsters.
When we are older….
We seek out spiritual darkness to hide the monster we have become…
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. John 3:19-20
All the time forgetting…
Forgetting that God stands waiting…
Waiting more surely than a mother at the bottom of the attic stairs…
Waiting to rescue us from spiritual darkness..
Waiting to welcome us into the eternal light of His love…
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Note: An earlier version of this post appeared in July 2015
