This Relevant Darkness

 

December sunrise as seen from our home

When the clock reaches 9.21am today, pause for a moment.

(Sorry to our readers in the future - this only applies to 21 December 2024.)

It’s the moment of the Winter Solstice. When we’re tilted furthest away from the sun.

(Sorry to our readers south of the equator - for you that moment will next occur at 3.42am our time on 21 June 2025).

Today is the darkest day of winter. London will get 7 hours, 49 mins and 42 seconds of daylight.

The forecast for much of the UK is cloudy. It’s a dark day.

A great time for my first blog on MTW. Hellooo dear readers :-).

As always, I reached out for inspiration. “What should I write about, dear?”

My wife crafts stories that fill novels. She knows about inspiration.

“Relevance,” she said. 

She and I talk a lot about why people stop to read one thing, while passing something else by. You’ll hook more readers when you share something relevant.

Articles about Christmas are more popular now than they were in July. Discussions about using AI to design book covers generate more heat today than they did five years ago.

How do I make this blog post, shared on the darkest day of the year, relevant to you, dear reader?

As you’re a creative writer I’m sure you already have a dozen thoughts buzzing. 

My choice is to make connection with an article I just read, about the upsurge in shoplifting. 

It featured the stories of several shopkeepers. They’d all welcome a better police response to the problem. But they know it’s not the full solution. The business owners acknowledged that the crime wave is a symptom of a deeper issue in society.

We see similar symptoms across our communities. We’re witnessing more greed, selfishness and disregard for neighbours. 

As Christians, we shouldn’t be surprised. We have a word for it. We also know where it comes from - a place without light - a place where the darkness is deepest.

Today, after 9.21am, our half of the world begins its journey back into the light. The deepest darkness is behind us.

I wish our society’s journey back to light was as predictable as the movements of our planet.

What I can predict is that in a few days we will celebrate the arrival of the light of the world. And that one day, that light will be dazzlingly universal, forever.

Until then we can all play a small part in helping to bring that light into our communities, through how we live, what we say and what we write.

At the very least, we can pray. How about taking a moment to do that, as you pause at 9.21am this morning?