Aug 12 2021 Day 159 Proverbs 4:1–5:23

[T]he path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

My husband is currently driving all of our belongings from Portland, Oregon to the Pittsburgh area, and I expect him later today. He’s driving a large rental van, and towing the car; he has quite a load. Every day, he started early and aimed to arrive at the night’s respite well before dinner; he didn’t want to be driving in the dark.

That makes a lot of sense, not driving in the dark. Except every morning, he’d start out in the dark. It could be just as dark as night, but for some reason, it was an acceptable dark, an easier dark. I think it’s because it’s the dark that precedes the light of dawn, rather than a dark that promises hours of more dark.

He and I are both like that, relishing in the morning dark but not the evening dark. As the writer of Proverbs says, the light of dawn shines brighter and brighter until full day. It’s that promise of increasing light, of being witness to the sun’s persistence on rising again that I love. I write this as I’m sitting in the pre-dawn darkness, watching the inky black turn to a beautiful dark blue. Soon it will be dawn.

We take it for granted, the surety of the morning light. When we were exploring adoption from a foreign country, one thing we learned was how hard it was for children coming from countries on the equator. The sun rose and set around 6:00 every day, all year. No variation, no question. They didn’t understand it or question it any more than the concept of gravity. These children, when moved to locations farther from the equator were undone, because the sun didn’t consistently rise or set at 6:00. Something that sure and certain was now uncertain. We who don’t live on the equator have learned that the sun will always rise, even if its time varies wildly by season and location. We, like the equatorial children, take it for granted. And yet, it’s miraculous.

The path of righteousness is like that pre-dawn light. It’s coming, as sure as anything, the light is coming. And once it starts its creep, there’s no stopping it. The way of righteousness is equally illumining and persistent. The way of righteousness, like the morning light, will continue to grow brighter and brighter, lighting up everything in its path.

I take the sun’s rising for granted, and I love the morning light. I love the notion of the path of righteousness. I wonder if I take it for granted, knowing that it’s there.

This morning, I want to relish and appreciate Wisdom’s path, as much as I love the dawning light.