The Winter Solstice…The Night the Shadows Don’t Win

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Becky Dingle

Dear Reader:

Today is the shortest day of the year and if this were a football game…night would win because it would beat out the light…15 hours of darkness today. It appears that earth itself has turned away from the sun.

On the winter solstice many cultures believe in burning all kinds of lights to symbolize man’s refusal to be left in the dark. I decided to light lots of extra candles in my Happy Room.

I kept my good luck Clemson candles burning all night Saturday…it worked again…so why turn them off? 🙂

The flickering candles worked well all day since it was a dreary cool rainy day…one in which more light has been needed during the daylight hours, as well as, the early encroaching darkness of night.

Quinn Caldwell agrees that lighting more candles on the winter solstice is appropriate but on this day he argues we need to go a step further. (So I got my fireplace aglow with wood and light- title photo)

“On the longest night the world needs a larger and a wilder light than just candles.” 

Caldwell continues his story with this analogy….

” Once upon a time the shadows grew and the earth turned its face away from God…it needed a larger and wilder hope than ever before. And so God came to shine in the darkness through the birth of a tiny little baby aglow with renewed hope for this old world.

God knew we needed to set a fire of passion for healing, to set the depressed alight with the strength for one more day, to give people hope, to set a wildfire of repentance and a longing for justice gently overwhelming the whole world…to turn the earth back towards the sun…

…thus God came to blaze in the hearts of the people through His newborn Son.”

“Today we come to tell the world that the night will not win. And so we come, we who seek to follow the light, to shine the light on the world.”

“Let us always remember today to light a fire…to remind the world and ourselves that the shadows will not win.”

So until tomorrow…Come, God come, and shine through us. Amen.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Hopefully it will be our favorite night too since we have heard so much about the brightest sighting of the “Christmas Star”- Astronomers disagree on the association of the Christmas Star with the close proximity of Jupiter and Neptune…but no matter it will be whatever we want it to be. Astronomers say….

“The bottom line is something pretty darn cool is going to happen in the night sky on December 21, so take a moment to see it. Whether or not you can prove it’s the Christmas Star is a discussion for all the other days of the year; maybe even the next 20 or 60 years.

We get to see beautiful lights every holiday season, and we don’t normally see them any other time of the year. They go on trees, on homes and in yards. Some put up a whole lot, others just a few; everyone expressing different styles of celebration.

In 2020, there’s one beautiful light we may not see again for a long long time. It will be in the night sky on December 21 starting around 5 to 6 and will be over by 7. (need to find a clear space devoid of trees)

Let’s all look up and celebrate it…however we see it.” 

I went over to John and Mandy’s to take a few items for the festivities later this week…and took a Christmas puzzle for the children…I discovered kids whose minds work like Eva Cate’s with lego’s can “see” puzzle pieces’ connections much easier than the rest of us…But as I held the picture, Mandy helped Jake and Eva Cate just did her thing. A lot of fun!

We had a nice visit…Tommy and my grand dogs stopped by and we had a chance to catch up since the Thanksgiving holidays.

Then John drove us around to see the Christmas lights in their neighborhood….so festive and creative…really got me in the spirit. The Turners have snowflakes falling off the side of their home with lights…so pretty…at least we can pretend we are having a white Christmas!

I want to take a moment and thank all of you for your prayers for Suzy, Gin-g’s older sister. Amazing grace is found in prayer…the more prayers the more amazing the God Winks.

So proud of my Clemson Tigers…This morning Clemson woke up to a brand new banner flying over Death Valley…someone really believed we were going to win it appears. 🙂

 

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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2 Responses to The Winter Solstice…The Night the Shadows Don’t Win

  1. Rachel Edwards says:
    December 21, 2020 at 11:11 am

    Thank you again Becky…Suzy actually saw the blog entry. She will be going back to Duke tomorrow to meet with a team of doctors to determine her treatment. A specific request is that the CTscan of her lungs will show no evidence of cancer.

    A God’s wink of your post yesterday was that you had a reference to “Onward Christian Soldiers” and that song was sun at mh grandfather Hedrick’s memorial service and Suzy is named for him…his name was Dan and her name is Dana Sue…

    Reply

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