When Love Grows in the Dark
Wednesday Dec. 17, 2025
Scripture: 1 John 4:9–10, 19, John 1:5,
Reflection: For Christmas time there is something very honest about the way The Grinch begins. He doesn’t start in joy or celebration. He starts alone, hidden and cold. He watches happiness from a distance because he doesn’t trust it. And if we’re honest, that doesn’t feel made up at all. Many of us know what it’s like to be close to joy but not be able to experience it. Close to faith but still guarded. Close to church but carrying a heart that feels tired, hurt or small. The Grinch lived near Christmas but Christmas had not yet entered him. That’s one of the quiet truths, I think of the Gospel, Proximity is not transformation. Being near holiness or holy places does not automatically heal us. Healing begins when we allow love to come close.
This is one of the beautiful surprises with Christianity. God does not wait for us to soften, to grow stronger, braver, or better at love. God comes first. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us…” (1 John 4:10) Love is God’s initiative.
That’s why Christmas happens at night. Not in daylight. Not when the world is ready. But when the darkness is thick and the silence is heavy. This Sunday is the winter solstice and I find it fascinating that the very moment the darkness is longest the light becomes the brightest.
God’s love does not wait for the night to end. It enters the night and begins its work quietly.
Jesus was born at night. Jesus rose from the tomb before dawn. God’s greatest acts begin when hope feels hardest to imagine. The Grinch doesn’t change because he suddenly understands love. He changes because love reaches him exactly where he’s at. The Whos do not wait until he deserves a place in their circle. They sing before restoration. They sing after loss. They sing without proof that things will get better because they have love in their hearts. 1 John 4:19 says: “We love because He first loved us.” That means love does not begin with what you bring. It begins with what God gives. And when love is truly received hearts grow.
Sometimes slowly and sometimes three sizes at a time. Jesus does not shame small hearts.
He reshapes them. He steps into caves we’ve kept hidden. Into grief we’ve learned to manage.
Into exhaustion we mask with smiles. And He does not demand perfection. He offers presence.
Today, you don’t have to force joy, you don’t have to pretend the darkness isn’t real. All you have to do is let love come close. Because when love shows up even the dark becomes lighter.
Prayer: Jesus, meet me in the places I’ve kept closed. Grow what feels small. Warm what feels cold. Teach me to trust Your love before I see the light.Let Your love do what I cannot and grow my heart. Amen.