how to survive the darkness: the season of advent begins

right now, in the northern hemisphere, we are literally stuck in darkness. the days just keep getting shorter and shorter. the darkness is heavy + thick. and we are waiting. waiting for the light to return – both literally + figuratively. waiting for a little glimmer of hope. but, it is oh so hard. and we have a long way to go.

today, however, with the beginning of the season of advent, we say that we refuse to just give up. we refuse to accept the darkness and its threat to swallow us whole. today, we take action in the midst of our waiting.

in many homes, in many places of the world, we create our own light. we light one single candle, and we light a candle every sunday until christmas (for a total of 4) to mark our journey, bringing a teeny bit more of light into our lives each week. a candle that lights our way in the dark and gives us a tiny ray of hope… and, with these candles, we remember that the light will return.

so, instead of remaining in the darkness, we light a candle and put a star in our window and put lights on our tree to proclaim that we are people of the light. that, even thought it is so very tough, we will not give up. even though we still have to wait, we will not surrender to the darkness. that’s right, we will make our own light dammit.

of course, we cannot speed up the universe’s process of turning us back toward the sun. we don’t have complete control over making the darkness go away. but, we do have complete control over how we wish to live. it’s our choice –  we can either sink deep into the darkness or we can find a way to bring a little light into an otherwise very dark world. we embrace our empowerment to bring some light into the dark, and yet, we still have to wait. and wait we will… breathlessly.

but, perhaps the darkness actually has something to teach us. perhaps the silence and emptiness and breathlessness will help us discover new ways of appreciating the light.

as we journey on toward christmas, the new year, and arrival of light back into our lives, we spend our days and nights finding ways to co-create with nature – ways to make the waiting bearable. we seek ways to brighten up our homes, making them cozy + warm. basically, we make the best out of the situation because we believe. we trust and we know that this, the darkness, will not overtake us. and so, we bring light into our own lives – and we begin to spread that light into others.

and all along the way, we hope. we listen. we feel. and we light one more candle each week.