LIGHT

Light and dark.  Opposites.  In fact, they cannot exist simultaneously.  You can have all of one or all of the other, but never both together. 

When deciding on where to spend a family vacation, we usually opt to go where we can visit a National Park or two, or five, like when we visited Utah a couple of years ago.  Not all National Parks, however, are destinations for extended stays.  But, all are worth visiting at least once. 

One summer, on our way to give our girls their first look at the ocean we decided to make a short detour to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.  We had a 15 hour drive and this would be a great way to break up the trip for a couple of hours. Like most summers, it was hot.  Sweltering heat, and we were heading straight into more of it as we ventured southward. 

We had never explored a cave quite so magnificent.  It was gigantic.  A cavernous vastness you can’t truly explain without experiencing.  The triple digit temperatures disappeared within seconds as we descended into darkness. Cold air rushed towards us as if we had just walked into a freezer- nature’s A/C. As we continued to walk,  guided only by a tour guide and small puck lights mounted to the rock faces of the cave, we were met with even cooler air and dampness that eventually turned into a trickle, which made its way into an entire underground body of water.  Miles and miles of tunnels.  Walking a little longer we entered a room.  A massive room.  Like an underground performing arts center, only this one carved by centuries of underground rivers. 

And then the tour guide had his moment.  

He killed the lights. And I mean that, in every sense of the word.  What was once a dim, but adequately lit cave, was now dark.  Pitch black.  No one existed, except for their voices.  Not even the silhouette of a hand placed directly in front of your eyes could be seen.  Nothingness.  An eery feeling, met with a just a tad bit of fear ended when a small pen-sized flashlight was clicked on by the guide.  A stadium sized room filled with absolute darkness, was met with a prick of light.  And the darkness was no more.  Sure, the cave wasn’t well lit, but the absolute darkness ceased to consume like it once had moments earlier.  The light had won.  

And so, we enter a special time of year.  Christmas.  A season filled with many emotions.  Some good, some hard, and somewhere in between.  Light the Night was created from a place to start this wonderful season off on the right foot.  To set the stage for the goodness to come before the rush and busyness can steal it away.  It’s Christmastime. A time to pause. A time to reflect. A time to experience Great Joy and good news. A time when the Light of the World took all darkness away for good, just like the subtle glow that pierced the darkness in the cave. Join us as we Light the Night!