Seriously, I am staring at the screen trying to pull something out of you-know-where.
Ah...okay. I got it. And you have no idea how much time has elapsed. My little secret.
So last night I was woken from sleep around 2:00 a.m. to change my daughter's sheets. Then I couldn't get back to sleep due to apocalyptic-sounding winds beating against my windows. So I had some time to contemplate the night. Literally. I was thinking, wow--it's really the middle of the night. It can't get any darker, though I live in the city where it's never really dark.
Which gets me thinking about darkness. I have always loved the night. When I was in high school I used to sneak out of the house late at night...to walk through the neighborhood. I wasn't getting into trouble. I was just enjoying the mystery and semi-danger of the night. I loved seeing lit-up windows, cozy domestic scenes just feet away from me, and realizing that I preferred to be on the outside, in the dark.
But what if I were to find myself in total darkness? The kind of pitch black that hides everything from you, where you can't see your hand in front of your face? I don't think I would find that kind of darkness beautiful.
What I love about the dark is that lights become magical when they shine into it. You can really feel the warmth, power, and romance of lights when they are surrounded by darkness--yet not overcome by it. I have to be standing out in the dark sometimes to truly appreciate the light. When I am surrounded by light, it doesn't grab my heart in the same way as it does on a dark, rainy night.
So the beauty of darkness is really the beauty of the power of light.
When was the last time you contemplated how wonderful it is to see a light in the darkness?
I totally understand the feeling of being in the dark and seeing into the light of others - the safe warm feelings that excude from the windows! Cool reminder that we need "light" when darkness falls.
ReplyDelete