Light, and hope of light.

I woke up this morning reflecting on yesterday's post, and on Ruth's here about SAD but this morning I was remembering a verse in Revelation 21. I often read exerpts from Revelation 21 at funerals but don't give it much thought otherwise, but it is an amazing chapter - part of the great vision, or revelation, that God gave a chap called John about the future:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworhty and true."
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son..".
And then - I'm getting to the point of this post now (!) - it goes on after a bit, "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp... there will be no night there."

Promise of a life to come without dreich days and long nights! No darkness at all. Good! Excellent! (Unless you're the director of the X-files, re-runs of which are showing on TV at the moment. Why do Mulder and Scully NEVER, EVER put a light on in that program? It drives me nuts).

Spiritual Health Warning:
My conscience forbids me to leave this post there - the passage does have a dark side here and here. These are dire warnings indeed, and a call to us all to make sure we have (a) been genuinely sorry and (b) asked God for forgiveness for our sin.