Contrast

A few days ago during the middle of the day the moon passed between the earth and the sun. It was a rarity for our times, a solar eclipse.

In the weeks leading to this moment, news reporters urged caution when viewing the eclipse. Entrepreneurs manufactured, sold and distributed special glasses which allowed a person to look at the eclipse without damaging said person’s eyes. Some glasses were high quality, others seemed no better than a toy pair of 3-D glasses stuck into a kid’s meal at a fast food drive-thru window.

Schools, tasked with educating children, took this opportunity to close for the day. Personal injury liability seemed to outweigh an occasion to, pardon the pun, enlighten students willing to learn about this once-in-a-lifetime moment. Businesses then scrambled to remain open for the day because parents had to be at home with children.

For the good time gang it became one more reason to celebrate with longneck barbells, a ready-made party opportunity. For the conspiratorially-minded, it became a possible moment when Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Bermuda triangle and little green men from Mars would come together to create havoc. Bonnie Tyler, the gravelly-voiced vocalist from the 1970s and 1980s even emerged from the shadows to sing her thirty-four year old over-the-top pop hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.

On the roads, traffic became thicker than normal. Small towns in the direct path of the eclipse were overrun with out-of-towners some of whom snobbishly wondered how anyone could ever live in a place like this. Overall, people seemed even more on edge which covers a great deal of ground since the world where we live is so hyper-sensitive about every little thing these days.

And then, for a brief time, in the middle of the day, the world slowed down and things grew dark.

Light, then dark.

An eerie, thick veil crept onto the scene. Crescent moon shadows touched the ground. Lightning bugs flitted about shining a light here then there. Roosters crowed at 2:30 in the afternoon. Street lights, triggered by darkness, illuminated the dark during the day.

The contrast from moments before was obvious. The darkest point only lasted a short time but in that time when light turned to darkness that contrast was as obvious as, well, day and night.

Then the darkness turned back to light.

For a moment, I searched for a rationale to the event. I contemplated what it all meant beyond the sun, the moon and the earth getting in each other’s way.

Some might say such matters are much more complicated than what they seem on the surface.

Really? Light then dark then light again.

Really?

John 1:5