Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once wrote,

Everything beyond a certain distance is dark, and yet everything is full of being around us. This is the darkness, heavy with promises and threats, which the Christian will have to illuminate and animate with the divine presence.

On this day, just two days before the grand eve of Christmas, I would entreat you to sit with this saying and ponder it hour upon hour, minute upon minute, every second.

Because contained in this short passage by this visionary is, I think, such deep truth that we could roll it around in our minds and hearts forever and still never grasp it’s full depth.

Being hidden is both an opportunity for blessing and for curse. We usually think it is just for curse.

In these days that are still more dark than light, it is easy to fall into the mindset of curse.

Cursed is the darkness.

Cursed is the cold.

Cursed is this time of year as yet again the clock has not enough flexibility built within it to allow me to finish all that needs to be done.

A baby comes on its own time, after all…

And yet, without darkness we would not know light.

Without cold we would not know warmth.

And without rush we would not know the beauty in pausing; pausing to see how full of being everything around us already is even as we squint into the future.

God is dawning. We would be crazy and irresponsible not to pause now.

Questions for reflection: What about the uncertainty of the future makes me afraid? What might it mean to believe that God is indeed being birthed into the world at every moment? As we near the Christmas day, how can we slow ourselves?