I completely forgot about it.
I might be one of the two people in all of North America that forgot a solar eclipse was going to take place on Monday. (And I say that I might be “one of the two people”, because I'm assuming there HAS to be somebody else in North America that forgot about it...right?)
I DID notice the darkness.
Even though Kennedy was well away from the “zone” where “totality” could be observed; it did get dark enough to prompt me to stare out my window. The gathering darkness that seemed to be happening (despite the clear sky) had me puzzled. It was only later in the day, when a friend mentioned it during our phone conversation, that I remembered the solar eclipse.
Until that moment, I really hadn't known what it was that I'd perceived.
But to be honest, I hadn't lost a whole LOT of time worrying about it.
I have witnessed a solar eclipse once before. It happened when I was old enough to understand the science. I can remember waiting in the schoolyard behind Kennedy School. We had made cardboard “viewers” so we could watch the event. Like all of my classmates, I had been told what I'd see.
When the moment came, and that shadow engulfed my world, I KNEW what was happening.
Yet back then, that shadow actually disturbed me MORE than the diminished light that surprised me on Monday.
Darkness doesn't bother me nearly as much as it used to.
Not that I am foolhardy about it. Several years ago, I sustained an injury that left me far less physically able to walk in darkness than I used to be. I depend on light just to keep my balance. Believe me, I have fallen often enough that I am very aware of my limitations.
But, I have learned that the darkness has weaknesses of its own.
Though it can obscure our vision and limit what we SEE, darkness can't alter what IS. It can cause us to imagine all sorts of things. Yet in truth, the only time when darkness can really hurt us, is when we allow it to take up residence inside us. And even then, when we allow ourselves to be completely enthralled by it, darkness can NEVER “win” against light.
No amount of darkness, no matter how widespread and “total” it may seem, can ever extinguish even the modest light from a single candle. Nor is there any darkness so absolute, that light can not pierce through it. Even if we are in a place where darkness is all that seems possible...that darkness WILL vanish the INSTANT that light enters in.
There have been times in my life when I allowed darkness to bully me. I stumbled along. I thought I was bound by it. I thought I would never be free of it. Then the moment came when LIGHT “eclipsed” and overwhelmed the darkness that had enslaved me.
I was never the same again.
We like to think that we can overcome darkness with our own understanding. We want to believe that what we “know” makes all the difference. Granted, I would have wasted less time staring out my window on Monday, if I'd remembered that a solar eclipse was expected to happen that day.
The problem is that there will be times in all of our lives, when a darkness comes that we DON'T understand.
When that happens...it will be ONLY our willingness to trust in the LIGHT...that will matter.
