New Light

Before we moved here, this silly Texan thought the hardest part about living in Alaska would be the cold. But as it turns out, living in the cold has been surprising bearable. Ask any Alaskan and they'll tell you that there really is no bad weather, just bad gear.

No, the hardest part about living in Alaska has been dealing with the crazy darkness.

Around mid-October, daylight hours began growing noticeably shorter. The sun wouldn't rise until mid-morning, barely cresting above the horizon, and then it would completely vanish again by the middle of the afternoon. On the day of the winter solstice, I didn't see the sun until 11 AM. It barely warmed our -23 degree sky, and then it went back down again at 2:40 PM.
I'm absolutely certain that if twinkle lights would not have been popularized for Christmastime, Alaskans would have made them a thing anyway. The snow sparkles here out of pure necessity. We need all the light we can get.

Even now that the shortest day of the winter season is behind me, I still have quite a ways to go before things return to "normal." Today the sun rose at 10:30 and will set at 3:15. We will earn about five minutes of sunlight back every day, which feels painfully slow--even more so now that most of the Christmas-y twinkle lights are down.

The lack of sunshine has been a big player in my life lately. The darkness has taken a toll on my motivation, my energy, and my mood. It's actually quite hard to make your body work when the sun does not. And even though I make a deliberate effort to move and get out and about each day, I can feel the draining impact that the dark has on me.
We wake up to "natural light" alarm clocks so that our bodies are cued when it's time to rise. We take vitamin D supplements every morning. We sit in front of our light therapy boxes every day. But all of those things are lesser substitutes for the thing we are missing the most:
Sweet, sweet sunshine--and perhaps even a humid 90 degree day if you are a silly Texan.


Because of my pining, watching for the sunrise has become a bit of a daily ritual for me here. And fortunately for me, Alaskan sunrises never seem disappoint:

And these are just stinky camera phone pictures, y'all! It's truly like looking at massive watercolor paintings...

Even though I have been awake for hours before these sunrises happen---even though I have taken all of my fake-sun supplements, and gotten the kids to school, and squeezed in a workout, and knocked out some errands, *or sometimes have started making my lunch!!* (it really is so, so crazy)---my day suddenly starts over again once I see the light.
Living like this for the past several months has taught me a couple things.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, I've learned that there is no substitution for the true light.
There are lots of tips, tricks, and gadgets on the market for us up here in the arctic that claim to help combat the darkness, but they all pale in comparison to the real thing. There is no amount of exercise, no amount of vitamins, no amount of twinkle lights that do the work the sun was made to do. And friends, since Jesus is the Light (John 8:12), we'd do really well to remember that there is no substitution for Him. No amount of good works, no amount of followers, no amount of "likes." No powers, no professions, no self-help scenarios. Nothing on this earth can do the work that the Son was made to do.

Secondly, I've learned how important it is to relish the new starts that the light brings.
Before the sun rises here, I feel a bit like a zombie. I drink the coffee and I do the things, but I do them reeeeeaally slowly. (And probably without brains.) But I'm like a completely new woman when the sun comes out. A new day literally dawns for me, even though it's midday!
Light is rejuvenating. It wakes us up. It helps us see. It warms us. It powers us. Light makes things begin again.
Many of us get spun up around this time about a new year, but there really is something so lovely and important about each new day.
If you feel like your year is already off on the wrong foot, find comfort in this new day. And if you feel like you didn't start the day off right, take comfort in our gracious God who makes a sunrises in the middle of the day!!
And even then, He gives a new hour. He gives a new minute. He gives a new breath.
Notice it, and begin again.

"Those who live at the ends of the earth
stand in awe of your wonders.
From where the sun rises to where it sets,
you inspire shouts of joy." (Psalm 65:8)

Now if you will excuse me, I have a sunrise to catch ;)