In college I took an astronomy class, and for fifteen weeks I had to track the exact time of sunrise and sunset every single day. This was before you could pull it up on a phone in two seconds. I literally stood outside all semester, pen and paper in hand, writing down when the sun came up and when it went down. Once I figured out the pattern, I will admit I probably fudged a few of the numbers near the end and still walked away with an A.
The Day After the Longest Night
Today was the Winter Solstice, December 21st, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. But the day I will celebrate for the rest of my life is December 22nd. In astronomy it marks the turn. From that day until June 21st, there is roughly one more minute of sunlight every single day. I have always known that fact. This year it means something far more than a number on a chart.
Some people say the whole Christmas season is really built on the winter solstice, and that Jesus was actually born in the spring. I am not sure how all of that shakes out, or who decided what along the way. But from my own years of watching the sky with my own eyes, I know this much for certain. Starting December 22nd, the sun lingers a little longer, the days get a little brighter, and the nights get a little shorter, every day, for six straight months. The light does not come back all at once. It comes back one quiet minute at a time.
A Season of Darkness Ends
Today was a long day for me, and it ended a season of darkness in my personal life. Tomorrow, change comes, a change I have been waiting a long time to see. I will not describe exactly what it is. It is something sacred to me, and maybe one day I will share why I will celebrate this date for as long as I live. For now it is enough to say that the longest night finally passed, the way longest nights always eventually do.
Here is what I want you to take from it, wherever you are in your own sky. Seasons matter, and they turn whether you believe they will or not. If you are sitting in the dark right now, hold on for the solstice. The light is already on its way back, even on the night it feels furthest away. Here is to new beginnings, my friends. A new season. An added measure of light. May it shine a little longer in your sky too.