Truly the Light Is Sweet…

There is a short sentence in Ecclesiastes that suggests a subject: “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to behold the sun.” “Truly the light is sweet.” If anyone needs be convinced of how sweet the light is, he need only wrestle with worries, in the doubt and discouragement that comes with darkness. And one lesson we all have to learn is to wait for the light before making decisions, to wait for the light in appraising the seriousness of symptoms, to wait for the light in assessing any situation—for darkness can and does distort. All people have their problems; almost all people have periods of despondency—when the weight and the worry seem almost more than they can carry. But problems seem heavier in darkness than they do in daylight. In darkness, problems have a way of becoming confused. In darkness symptoms seem more serious. In darkness our judgment may be distorted. When our children are out at night, things we think could have happened, can cause acute concern. Darkness leads to morbid imaginings and sometimes makes unsolved problems seem unsolvable. Nighttime has its place. It has its own kind of quiet, its time for sleep and for renewing energies for the next day. But when worries are intermixed with darkness sleep leaves, and so does peace, and anguish enters in. And in times of sorrow, of despair and despondency, we should hold on to faith, and wait for the light to return—and make no commitments in the distortion of the darkness. Light must be an element in all safe thinking, in all safe decisions. “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.”