Linda Hopkins Coaching

_{Photo credit @wildkindphotography} 

On this the shortest (and darkest) day of the year, it seems apt to add a little reflection about waiting in the darkness!

I’ve enjoyed Gideon Heugh’s poetry this year after being given one of his books for my birthday, and I’ve used a number of his poems at retreat days I’ve facilitated since.  Yet I’ve found his advent book ‘Darkling’ to be quite challenging, as he invites his readers to wait and stay within the darkness of Advent so that we can find the ‘true meaning of light’. We don’t tend to like waiting in darkness, or waiting generally, but it also makes me ponder about what waiting in the darkness with God is like. I’m reminded of the psalmist’s words, that ‘even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you’ (Psalm 139:12). And I’m also reminded that there is nowhere that God’s greater light and presence is not found, for where can we go from God’s spirit? Or where can we flee from God’s presence (Psalm 139 again)? Spending time to wonder a while in the darker spaces and moments of our lives may well lead us to fresh glimpses of what it means that God is with us.

“May you make space in time for wonder.  May you make space in time for rest.  May you make space in time for beauty.  May you make space in time for sorrow.  May you make space in time for gratitude.  May you make space in time for hope.  May you create continuums of soulfulness, and let your being breathe.” Gideon Heugh, Darkling