Page 30 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 3_2024

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

MAKING LIGHT OUT

OF DARKNESS

B Y PETER S T OFFBERG

t was early evening, and my wife and I were
exhausted after a particularly challenging time
Irecently. The kids were tucked in, and hours of
anticipation finally drew to a close as we collapsed in
the quiet sanctuary of our bedroom. The dreamy weight
of slumber approached and would have overwhelmed
us had the neighbours not intervened.

It’s funny how often this happens at exactly the worst
possible time. We’re convinced that death (due to
exhaustion) is imminent, but the neighbour thinks it’s
the perfect time to crank up the sound system and
pump high levels of anti-sleep into every corner of the
neighbourhood. Lying there simmering in disbelief at
the awful timing of it all, we may have been headed for
some kind of breakdown, when suddenly, something
wonderful happened. I never imagined something so
bad could feel so good.... Load-shedding! One minute
we’re stressed about being awake all night, and next
thing, our weary souls are immersed in beautiful black
silence. Oh, the joy.

This though, is possibly the only positive experience
of load-shedding that we’ve had. No power means no
light, and light is so useful. We take it for granted mind
you, and the recent and frequent loss thereof has got ON SITE SUNDAY SERVICES @ 9h30
me to think more about it. www.familychurch.online
DAINFERN COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
Light is complicated. It’s been called a paradox.
Scientists don’t all agree, but many think that it first
existed 380 000 years after the huge explosion We know that light exists, even though we have no
that started the universe. Apparently, it is formed photos of a photon. Its origin is as mysterious as its
when energy is released by an electron as it drops behaviour, and yet we would not, and cannot exist
its orbit around an atom. This energy, or photon, is without it. It illuminates the universe and brings
simultaneously a wave (with no mass) and a particle knowledge and understanding and all the while, it
– except it’s not a particle, neither is it a wave, since it sustains us.
can be either, or neither – at the same time. Not even
Einstein could reconcile this, but it hasn’t stopped us It’s no wonder Jesus, God in the flesh, calls Himself the
trying. It hasn’t changed our dependence on it either. ‘Light of the world’. We can only pray that this Easter is
not shrouded in four-hourly blackouts, but if it is, it may
give us a quiet space to think about the God who exists
and sustains us even though we have no photos of
Him. A God who is wonderfully mysterious and yet gives
knowledge and understanding, and a God who became
human so that we could know Him, even if we don’t
always understand Him.

6 DPL issue 2 2023

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