Comfortable Darkness

Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.

1 John 2:9-11

By this time, we are not as impressed with some of the people we were excited to meet in August. A brilliant professor isn’t clear about expectations. A roommate has revealed some annoying habits. An organization’s leader doesn’t follow through. (Of course, it is possible that the professor has become disappointed with a student or two, that we also have annoying habits, and that the leader thought we would take more initiative.)

Annoyance can give birth to anger and anger to feelings of superiority, jealousy and resentment. We don’t hate the person, but we are cultivating seeds of that darkest of feelings. The more we focus on another’s negatives, the less we can see his or her gifts. It doesn’t take long before we are too blind to see the person as, first and foremost, a child of God.

When the darkness becomes a comfortable place where we are right and others are wrong, it is hard to pray for light, but it is the time we most need to. Be a light in our darkness, O Lord, and deliver us from the seeds of hatred.

God’s peace,

Katie