Equinox of the Soul: A Lenten Reflection on Darkness and Light
Halfway through Lent the Spring equinox arrives - equal part day and night. It seems an appropriate moment to pause as we move from the ashes and darkness of knowing we are from dust and will return to dust one day, and we begin to look toward the light and life on the horizon just 20 days away where resurrection awaits us. Enough light to keep us moving toward hope, enough darkness to keep us searching for God in new ways.
Truth be told, most ordinary days feel like a Spring equinox to me. Always much for which to be grateful, but equal parts dismay over the dark condition of the world, or just the condition of my own heart. And yet, there is God reaching toward me. I find it amazing that God created both day and night, both darkness and light. They each play a role to set the seasons in motion and give liturgy to our days in the rising and setting of the sun.
Scripture tells us that God is light and within him there is no darkness. Yet the Psalmist also says that God is wrapped in darkness… sometimes hidden from our sight… sometimes a mystery… and sometimes simply present with us as we sit in our own bespoke darkness. Nothing can separate us from God, not even our darkest moments. So, although darkness does not dwell within God’s character, he is able and willing to inhabit the darkness with us, to let it do its job, to split it open at the right time, to reveal the distant light… God is always working in our darkness, just as the Divine creation appeared from the darkness and void.
This is the day we turn toward the light on the horizon and begin to make our way and set our gaze toward Jerusalem searching for our own resurrections. What new life are you praying for?
Questions for Spiritual Direction:
In what ways do you recognize both darkness and light inhabiting the same space within your life?
Take a few minutes to imagine God sitting in the dark places with you. What does that feel like, look like, sound like? What difference does it make in your life to live with this knowledge?
How do you experience hope in the midst of the darkness? How is God inviting you to move toward the light of hope on the horizon?
.
