Where I am from in southern California, “JUNE GLOOM,” is a common and well understood phrase. Just as you get used to it being summer and expect those warm sunny days, “JUNE GLOOM,” sets in! Instead of waking up to sunshine streaming through your windows in the morning, there is nothing but a thick, gray haze. The cloud cover has rolled in over the ocean and fills the sky with a gray haze that covers everything. It typically lasts until about 10am in the morning, but there are times it can last throughout the entire day. 

Have you ever felt that gloom in your soul? Oh you know, that feeling that you just wake up with and it seems to cover all of the regular sunshine from streaming in. It feels gray and blue and creates a fog like feeling in your heart and head. You got out of bed expecting a day filled with sunshine but instead it feels more like drizzle…not a downpour, just gloom.

The words to define gloom are:

Dim, Dark, Somber and Partial.

I love that one definition, ‘partial.’

It implies that it is not full, it is not complete, it has not yet taken over.

Therein lies our hope my friend!

None of us choose to wake up gloomy, it just seems to happen as unexpectedly as “June Gloom” on a warm June day. 

However, it doesn’t half to stop us. It doesn’t have to paralyze us and consume us! It does not have to turn from partial darkness to complete darkness. Not when we have the LIGHT!

JESUS IS THE LIGHT!

“JESUS SAID TO THE POPLE, ‘I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. IF YOU FOLLOW ME YOU WON’T BE STUMBLING THROUGH THE DARKNESS, BECAUSE YOU WILL HAVE THE LIGHT THAT LEADS TO LIFE.’”

John 8:12

Our hope is the Truth of what Jesus himself spoke. When we have Jesus in us who is the light of the world, then we do not have to stumble through the darkness and gloom that comes. The gloom may come, but it will always be partial and can be overcome with the Light of Jesus Christ in us!

I was reminded of this truth recently as I woke up on a gloomy Southern California “June Gloom” day! I had made plans with my grandkids to go to the beach. Do you think we woke up on that gloomy day and let the gloom consume us? Of course not! We packed our beach bags, put on our bathing suits and grabbed our sunblock!

That’s right, you read it correctly… 

We grabbed our sunblock! Why would we slather ourselves in sunblock when there was not one ray of sun peeking through? Because even though the gloom had set in temporarily and partially, the sun was still there! We even had a few patches of red that were missed with the sunblock, to prove that the rays of the sun still come through the gloom!

In the same way, when the Son of God is in us, His Light shines through any amount of Gloom that comes into our lives!

TRUTH BOMB

WHEN THE GREY DIMNESS OF GLOOM CREEPS IN, TURN ON THE LIGHT OF JESUS INSIDE YOU!

Jesus is truly The Light of the world! 

When you follow Him, you will not stumble through the dark. He will shine through any gloom in your life!

Speak Truth Love