2 Peter 1:19

"...pay close attention to their message, as you would to a lamp shining in some dark place. You must keep on paying attention until daylight comes and the morning star rises in your hearts."

In this room there is darkness. The still darkness that casts no shadow. There is no light, no point of reference.

And so I sit in this room.

I wait for my eyes to adjust, for even in darkness, a little can be seen.

Not now. Not here. No hope of that.

I cannot sit for long. I hunger to know of this place in which I am. Much can be learned through the senses even when one sense is arrested. Sound and touch are made for spaces such as this.

I grope, then graze, not feeling much. What I do feel, I have trouble understanding. So much can feel this way or that. I have no confidence in naming my surroundings. But why stop? I have to know this place hidden in darkness.

My hands touch upon a cord, a lamp! The light is bright, painful, a bit uncomfortable...but what joy! I can see! Not every nook and cranny, but enough.

As my eyes take in the room, I'm not sure what I see. And still the darkness tries to quench the light. It appears to grow.

I shiver. I look at the lamp.

The light is peace, reassurance, power. The lamp's light makes me to know the truth: the darkness cannot stamp it out!

And so the light becomes my salvation, my hope, my help. I stay close to the lamp, seeing all through its cast. And as I sit, I see more clearly. Clearer and clearer, my room defines itself: beauty and ugliness, happiness and great sorrow. Messes amass, an effort at tidiness, too.

Is the light growing more intense?

No.

There is a window opposite where I sit. I see the morning dawning! The sky is lighting up in an array of colors just as my soul is filling with love.

The darkness is fading fast, holding desperately to the corners. Soon even they shrug the night off and the room is full and bright and fully exposed. Now the beautiful details are known. No more is the lamp needed for I am bathed in Light!

The walls melt away fast.
Glorious beauty!
Fullness of joy!
I am surrounded by love, engulfed, consumed.
I am known.