A Harbinger of Better Days to Come
As the saying goes, “it’s always darkest before the dawn.” On Monday, December 21, 2020 at 5:02 a.m., the Sun will be directly above the Tropic of Capricorn, the imaginary circle around the Earth south of the Equator that demarks the southernmost position at which the Sun can appear directly overhead. In the Northern Hemisphere, we refer to this moment in time as the Winter Solstice.
From that point forward, when the day is the shortest and the night the longest, the hours of daylight begin to wax and the hours of darkness begin to wane. With each passing day, we experience more light and less dark. In ancient times, this “changing of the light” was celebrated as a rebirth of the Earth, a movement away from the dead of winter toward the fertility of spring. It was considered a harbinger of better days to come.
As the year 2020 draws to a close, we have indeed experienced some dark days. A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic hit our shores wreaking havoc as it spread across the land. As the year 2021 approaches, however, rather than expect the days ahead to darken further still, I choose to believe they will begin to brighten. One way or the other, we will defeat this pandemic.
Hence, on December 21st, I hope you will join me in celebrating “the changing of the light” when literally, and with hope and faith, figuratively the time we spend in the dark will shorten while the time we spend in the light lengthens. Better days are ahead!
