“Joyful is the dark
coolness of the tomb,
waiting for the wonder of the morning.
Never was that midnight
touched by dread and gloom:
darkness was the cradle of the dawning.”   — Brian Wren

Half our lives are lived in darkness whether that is night and day or emotional or spiritual darkness. We learn to fear the dark. To get inside before dark. To bring light to the dark. What about lessons that can only be learned in the dark? What about healing that can only happen in the dark? What about miracles that need the dark to make them possible — seeds in soil, cakes in ovens, babies in wombs, the messiah in the tomb? Life germinates in darkness. New life emerges from darkness. Perhaps something is growing in your darkness, cooking in your darkness, being born in your darkness, resurrecting in your darkness.

Permission giving, God, give us eyes to see in the dark. Help us to believe that wherever we are, you are present with us — growing us, shaping us, calling us forth into new and surprising ways of being. Show us the joy and possibility in darkness that the dark may be for us and for the world the cradle of a new dawning. Amen.