The Things That Belong to the Night

The Things That Belong to the Night

During the night, in the quiet hours when most of the world sleeps, I lie awake and the things in the night become distorted and amplified. The faucet that drips, drips, drips, during the day goes unnoticed – but in the quiet of the night, it is a disturbing, even sinister, sound.

The floor that creaks during the day – the creaks that I never notice – are amplified in the night. I lie awake and hear that creaking and wonder if someone has broken into my home – am I in danger? My heart races and my mind explores a thousand possibilities. But only one possibility can be the truth. All the rest are distortions, illusions, specters.

They are the things that belong to the night.

The things that belong to the night are the things we pay no attention to during the day – but at night, in the dark, we imagine all sorts of things that would never cross our minds in the light of day.

And it occurs to me that we can choose the attitude we will embrace for the day. Or we can let other people, events, and the things that belong to the night dictate what our attitude will be.

We can make mountains of molehills and molehills of mountains. Our thoughts can heal, and our thoughts can make us ill. Our thoughts can motivate us to do remarkable things or do terribly evil things. Our minds can find beauty in everything or ugliness even in the most beautiful things. 

We can think ourselves into misery or we can make ourselves happy with our thoughts.

We are all in control of what we think. Our thoughts control our attitudes. We can base our thoughts on those distortions of reality that belong to things that belong to the night.

Or we can choose to base our attitudes on reality. The things of the light.

We all have problems and each one of us can deal with our problems if we examine them in the light of day.  It’s been said that God never gives us a bigger burden than we can carry.

We should never allow our minds to create problems that belong to the night: ghosts, specters, and illusions – all things untrue and that can live only in the murkiness and distortions of the dark.

Like the faucet that drips in the night or the floor that creaks in the quiet hours – we can make our problems so immense that we can never overcome them. Examining things in the dark, quiet hours, can amplify and make our problems worse so they’re not even based in reality any longer.

Once we’ve allowed illusions to become our reality, it will affect our lives, our health, and our attitudes.

All of us, at times, allow distortions to influence our lives. We imagine all kinds of things that are not real, that are not true — the things that belong to the night. These illusions can affect how we interact with our world and destroy our attitudes.

Our thoughts can make us sick or make us well. Our attitude makes or breaks our days.

I don’t believe that anyone sets out to have a dreadful day. Yet many allow the things that belong to the night, and the opinions of others to control them and the attitudes they embrace. It’s a simple and indisputable fact that we can all control our attitudes and not allow our attitudes to control us.

We can all choose the attitude we will embrace for the day.

The mind is a complex and powerful thing. Our minds can conjure up thoughts that can make us miserable, sick, or inconsolable. If we allow our thoughts to be based on distortions, illusions, specters, and ghosts – those things that belong to the night — then we’re living a distortion. We’re living a lie.

If you have a problem, examine it in the light of the day. Don’t drag it out in the middle of the night and let the dark hours amplify and distort it and make it worse.

Do not dwell on what troubles you, dwell on what brings you peace.

Sometimes it is not easy to avoid the things that belong to the night.  But if we are careful and remember not to give credence to those things then we’ll be happier and so will those who love us.

Our attitudes reflect our inner thoughts and fears, and our attitudes determine how we feel about ourselves and others. Everything looks different in the light of the day. You can see things as they really are and not as they seem to appear in the dark. In those dark and quiet hours, even the most innocent sound can seem like a horrible evil shriek from a terrible unseen demon.

You can choose to be miserable, or you can choose to be happy. You can choose the attitude you will embrace for the day. You have control over your attitude. If you choose to let others dictate your attitude or choose to let events dictate your attitude you will suffer and so will those who love you.

Don’t let distortions or illusions or the things that belong to the night define your problems. Work out your problems in the light of the day – not in the dark of the night.

Your problems will not seem as great, and you will see things as they really are. You’ll realize that the things that belong to the night are almost always, distortions of the truth. You’ll feel better and others will like you better because the attitude you embrace will be the attitude you choose to embrace.

Don’t base your attitude or your life on the things that belong to the night.

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than the facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company; a church; a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…We are in charge of our attitudes.” (Charles Swindoll)