Abe Donsky from Connecticut is credited with inventing the night light in 1965. Not surprisingly, he was the father of four children. If you have young children at home then one of the must have items in the house is night light. They have been greatly improved over the last 55 years but still serve the same purpose – to help children who are afraid of the dark.
If wonder if in the days before electricity parents had to leave a candle burning or oil lamp on for the night. Parents in need of sleep will do many things to get it. Now that I know Mr. Donsky was the inventor I can send him my thanks.
What makes the darkness so frightening? For one thing, we can’t see and when we can’t see our imagination takes over. Children begin to envision or imagine all kinds of creatures that might ‘be out there.’ Despite parents best speeches about how safe it is at night, some children just can’t let it go. So, they place a small light somewhere in the room or a hallway, just enough that if the child awakes they can see that all is well.
As we grow up, we usually overcome our fear of darkness but our imagination still works just fine. When we can’t see what lies ahead of us, when we feel like there might be danger, we have plenty of voices painting scary pictures in our mind. When we sense danger there is no end to the scenarios that we can create and that only leads to more fear.
Psalm 27 begins with this verse: The Lord is my light and my salvation. (27:1) How reassuring that verse is. Because he is our light, we can see the reality of where we are. We can see the world; we can see our own situation in the light of Jesus Christ. Even when there is legitimate danger we can rest assured that nothing in the darkness is hidden from God. When everything around us seems to be dangerous or hard to comprehend, “he will hide me in his shelter.” (27:5) Learning this truth is another good reason to keep reading through scripture.