In cold and darkness, be a thermostat, not a thermometer

Every year at this time, the lack of warmth and light really seems to affect me. Waking up before dawn and having dusk set in early makes me feel as though I am awake when I shouldn’t be. My eyes give my body the false message that it is bedtime; therefore, I find my physical – and emotional – energy fading. 

Spiritually, Advent is designed to encourage us to imagine the darkness present in the uncertain – presumably desolate – time before Jesus’ coming. Waiting endlessly for the Messiah, people’s hope – like my energy – must have frequently faded. 

How fitting that this season’s temperatures and skies complement our biblical readings and personal reflections. When I think of the Gospel which will be read on the second Sunday of Advent, I recognize the insignificance of my cold and darkness compared to the challenges faced by people such as John the Baptist. He spent time in an actual desert. He wore camel’s hair and fed on locusts, while I escape the outdoor season by wrapping myself in warm blankets and taste-testing St. Nicholas cookies. How challenging that experience must have been, and yet he continued to proclaim God’s message of “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1: 4). 

In a barren desert, his voice was heard. To waiting people, a message of salvation was delivered. In a time of darkness and despair, hope appeared. Advent is our time to ponder the significance of how a voice, a message, and hope continue to exist today, and how we ourselves can deliver that message of hope.

In 2021, Chris Stefanick suggested that we need to follow this advice: “‘Don’t be a thermometer; be a thermostat.’” Thermometers read the temperature of a room and respond to it, he said, while thermostats actually set the temperature. 

Stafaniuk challenged people to ask themselves whether they set the spiritual tone in a room or do they allow a room’s “temperature” – the moods of others, the behaviours of their children, or the climate in their workplaces – to determine how they act. He wanted people to consider the fact that being a thermometer would mean responding to and perhaps joining in negative, apathetic actions, whereas, in being a thermostat and setting the tone ourselves, we could bring positivity – Christ’s warmth and light – to any situation.

In his encyclical Veritatis Splendor, St. Pope John Paul II reflected on light. He wrote, “ … no darkness of error or of sin can totally take away from man the light of God the Creator. In the depths of his heart there always remains a yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it.” Even before the Messiah came and people waited in the darkness, their yearning for truth and their hope in the Creator were glimmers of light.

Jesus, “the true light that enlightens everyone” (Jn 1:9), came to let that light shine more vividly in word and in action. We believers are called to live out our faith as “children of light” (Eph 5:8), as St. John Paul said. What does this mean for us in the darkness of this physical season? We know that he came, so our actions must reveal this.

Self-reflection will help us bring Christ into the world and show that we have not lost hope. As the nights get cooler, are my moods and comments doing the same? In this dark weather, am I allowing the lack of light to zap my physical and spiritual energy? In this hectic season, am I allowing panic and anxiety to set in? 

It is Advent – a time of contemplation and preparation. In the busyness, I must seek moments of peace. In the cold, I must seek coziness – not just physically, but in my heart. The physical cold and darkness provide tangible reminders that I must focus on sharing my faith, through my actions.

As we wait and prepare for the feast of Christmas, I share Chris Stefanick’s advice: “Walk into a room and be a blessing. Think about how you can increase the joy in every situation. Be responsive to God, instead of those around you, and start thinking about how you can be a joy and a blessing to your family, friends, and co-workers.”

Be a thermostat; bear the Light.

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