The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.  But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble (Proverbs 4:18-19).

When I was a boy, I read a lot of books like "My Side of the Mountain," and "Where the Red Fern Grows," and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," which gave me a very romantic view of "roughing it" in the great outdoors:  the swirling smoke of a campfire, a thick blanket of stars overhead, and a boy lying in thick, dewy grass, soaking in the wonder of it all.  So one time, I begged my parents to let me "camp out" in the large field behind our house.  They consented, so I dragged a sleeping bag out to the field along with a backpack containing some books, some snacks, and a flashlight.  As dusk began to fall, I settled in for my night under the stars.  I just knew it was going to be awesome.

What I didn't know was how truly dark and cold the night would be.  When the last purple traces of the sunset were drained from the western sky, the darkness was overwhelming.  It was a moonless night, so the blackness was nearly total; I couldn't see much except for the distant light on the back porch of my house and the shaggy line silhouetting the woods, where the stars stopped off in the other direction.  I was also shocked at how quickly the coolness of night set in.  As it became colder and colder, I burrowed deeper and deeper into my sleeping bag -- until I was completely covered in a cocoon of synthetic fibers.  And even then, I became so cold that I started shivering.  It was not the romantic view that had been in my mind, with my hands folding behind the back of my head, looking up at the stars and pondering my existence.  It seemed that Sam Gribley, Billy Coleman, and Huck Finn (the protagonists of the aforementioned books) never had to deal with any of these problems!  Eventually, I drifted off into a fitful sleep.  When I awoke, it was still absolutely dark and cold.  But I had to pee, so I wormed my way out of the sleeping bag (which had finally become warm) and staggered over towards the hedge beside my camp to relieve myself.  On the way back to my sleeping bag, however, I tripped over some small shrub and sprawled out on the wet grass, soaking myself completely.  The shivering started again immediately, but I eventually stumbled back to my camp, peeled off my wet clothes, and dove back into the sleeping back.  And then I waited.  I waited for the morning to come.  I waited and watched and worried that I was never going to make it.  But then, after awhile, I started to notice a slight greyness to the eastern sky -- not bright at all, barely even perceptible in fact, just a dimming of the stars more than anything.  But over time, that dull grey color brightened to indigo, then to purple, then to glorious pink and orange and yellow.  It was magnificent.  The hope of the morning filled me in a way that made the long, dark night a dark and distant memory, though it had been my only reality just moments previously.  After all of the difficulties, I made it!

Wickedness and righteousness are a lot like my night of "roughing it."  Wickedness doesn't necessarily begin with evil intent.  Sometimes, it's driven by a romantic notion of "how life should be."  Sometimes, it's driven by pure ignorance.  And almost always, whatever naive mistakes we make, getting us into trouble in the first place, become amplified by the darkness and obstacles that come up unbeknownst to us.  The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.  And once we find ourselves in a troublesome situation, it becomes total and overwhelming.  But all hope is not lost.  Wickedness never has to be permanent.  Righteousness may come slowly, almost imperceptibly at first -- and it may take all our patience and perseverance to keep focused on the "good path" as we're coming out of our dark night -- but as it starts making headway, it becomes stronger and stronger.  It warms us and illuminates us.  It gives us hope and renewal.  The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.