BEEDAHBUN
The blackness of nightmares are cut sharply away and the colors of the sky melt like wax crayons mixing together to create an artist’s palette. The sky is changing and moving like our experiences; like the migration of the geese to signal winter is coming. The discomfort, the darkness, and disappointments are needed as much as the jubilant and joyful times.
“Beedahbun” is Ojibway for “first light.” As Richard Wagamese would say, “the blueness that sears darkness and claims the sky as its own” is that light in the morning to separate darkness from light. God spoke that light into existence.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1:3-5
In John 8:12, Jesus talked to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
There was once a dark cave, deep down in the ground, underneath the earth and hidden away from view. Because it was so deep in the earth, the light had never been there. The cave had never seen light. The word “light” meant nothing to the cave, who couldn’t imagine what “light” might be. Then one day, the sun sent an invitation to the cave, inviting it to come up and visit. When the cave came up to visit the sun it was amazed and delighted, because the cave had never seen light before, and it was dazzled by the wonder of the experience. Feeling so grateful to the sun for inviting it to visit, the cave wanted to return the kindness, and so it invited the sun to come down to visit it sometime, because the sun had never seen darkness. So the day came, and the sun entered the cave, it looked around with great interest, wondering what “darkness” would be like. Then it became puzzled, and asked the cave, “Where is the darkness?” (Source Unknown)
Darkness - whether it’s a bad relationship or attitude, a bitter wound or even a misunderstanding - can cloud over the light in our lives, but how reassuring to know that darkness can cease to exist in the presence of light. When we have Jesus, he has overcome even death and darkness. Walk in the light, overcome the darkness and marvel at the beauty of a morning sunrise.