In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-4).

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Anger, frustration, disappointment, despair, anxiety… all maladies of the human condition. We are arguing, fighting, shouting, coercing, and manipulating one another into submission. We want a new future, or a return to the old. Whatever we want, we want it badly and we want it now. In all this, we discover we are in a world we can’t control and that frustrates us even more. Take a breath. Stop and see what has been done. Stop and see who has come.

Someone was there, long before it all began. He sat face to face with God. He shared God’s very essence. He is the agent of creation. When God said, “Let there be light!” He produced the light by his might. He didn’t make everything the way a craftsman makes a wooden boat. No, he made the tree. It was different because in him was life. He gave his breath and the creation breathed. It ran, it jumped, it loved and it reproduced that life again and again and again. The life filled the lakes, the skies, the mountainside and the desert terrain. The life was blue and green and yellow and pink. The life clicked and chirped and whistled and roared. The life communed, laughed, listened and loved.

That life, which is life, is the light for all people. The opposite of darkness, light fills the human condition with good. Like light, the life gives awareness, it gives understanding, it gives direction, it gives protection.

But what about the darkness? Since Genesis 3, we’ve been enveloped by it. We’ve wandered around in it. We’ve destroyed each other in it. We’ve doomed ourselves by it. The light shines in that darkness. The very purpose of light is to shine in the darkness. It brightly testifies, “there is another way.” It shouts, “there is hope.” It whispers, “look, see, discover, understand.” That light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it.

Wherever we see darkness winning, we can know the battle is not over. Light always wins over darkness. When light shows up, the darkness tucks its tail and runs for the corners, the cracks, the crevices, hoping to grab one who wanders away from the light.

Where is the light? Where is the life we long for? It is in the Word. It has been since the beginning. When the Word comes, there is no room for darkness. The Word is life and light. The Word makes us know the beauty and wonder of life. The Word breaks the power of our darkness. Do you know this Word? Do you long for this Word? Listen for Him. Watch for Him. Attune your heart to His light.

Father, I thank you for the Word. The Word, Jesus, is with you and is one with you. He has made me and He gives me His life and light. Let me see your light today. Let me grasp, understand, perceive your movement in the darkness of my life and this world. Let me be filled with the confident hope that your light always overpowers the darkness. In Christ I come and trust and in His name I pray. Amen.