“This too shall pass,” my mom would tell me—much to my annoyance. Saying that it wouldn’t last forever (whatever it was) did not help my current situation. Yet humans are funny creatures. We work best with contrasts, like eternal and temporary. Without them, we can’t see clearly.

If all we’ve ever known is a room with a few candles, never the scorching light of the sun, then we cannot appreciate either. Color in particular needs contrasts in order to come fully alive in our eyes. It is the same with despair and hope. Each throws the other into relief.

Knowing darkness and despair isn’t pleasant—but oh, the beauty of God’s glory in comparison! That promised glory out of Galilee was Jesus, the Savior of all humankind. It was an unlikely place for a promised Messiah.

It can get really dark, like a night without a moon. And then the sun breaks over the horizon, and the sheer power of it can take our breath away. That is what God’s love for us is like.