Light Brings Life and the Hyacinth Knows it.

"If religion is a fairy tale of those afraid of the dark, then atheism is a fairy tale of those afraid of the light." -John Lennox

I just heard this quote last week for the first time and it has not left my mind. This happens to me often, someone says something that seems small at first but then makes such an imprint on my soul that I have no choice but to completely unpack it.

It's amazing what happens when we invite God to help us unpack something. We invite the author and creator of the universe to explain something about His creation and He always does it in the most profound way and he typically uses someone or something close to us in order to do it...for impact.

Hyacinths are my favorite smelling flower right up there with blooming Wisteria and Lilacs. I always fill my studio with Hyacinths in late winter because they remind me of what I have to look forward to and it helps keep away the end of the winter blues. I walked into my studio the other day and was moved by how boldly this little plant was diving towards the light. It wasn't just leaning, it was diving. Any further, and it would probably fall over.

That's when it hit me. Light brings life and the hyacinth knows it. Darkness has never boasted to be capable of this. Darkness is typically equated with death or sleep or rest or being blinded or having a veil over your mind, as in, "I was in the dark" on something. Darkness is a "not knowing" whereas being in the light is a knowing.

I plan to blog about marriage at some point, especially my own marriage and what I've been learning lately but for the sake of this entry I'm just going to mention one thing. When Seth and I were in the worst of it, when nothing made any sense, we decided to lean towards the light. We looked at our situation with all of it's bitterness and unforgiveness, it's harsh words and impatience and we CHOSE light. We said, "that's it." No more harshness, anger, criticizing, impatience. We are a household who believes in Christ (the ultimate light) and yet our home is filled with such darkness. Let's stop choosing darkness and chose instead the things of the light, namely, forgiveness, grace, mercy, love, laughter, joy, gentleness, tenderness, holiness. In other words, even in the midst of darkness it is possible to CHOOSE light. That was the beginning of our healing. There is more to that story for a later time but for now I mention it only to say that even in the most dire situations it is possible to choose light.

Like this hyacinth. If it leaned the other way it would slowly wilt, droop, sink and eventually die.

Light brings life and the Hyacinth knows it.

-KSW