“The light shines in the darkness.” John 1

“How far the little candle throws his beams. So shines a good deed in a weary world.” Shakespeare

How do you see the light?

How do you be the light?

The light is changing.

The sun is taking a different course.

It is now dark when I wake up.

I have begun lighting candles.  It’s more pleasant to awake to the subtle and soft glow of a candle than the eyeball burning light of a lamp. 

I look at the small candle on the coffee table.  Its light is reflected in the large window that looks out on the ponderosa pine covered hill behind my home.  From my chair the single flame is reflected as three individual flames, each divided into three smaller flames of their own.  A trinity of trinities, so to speak.  The sight is mesmerizing. If I change position slightly the image changes.  If I blow on my hot coffee my glasses steam up, and through them there is an aurora surrounding the candle.  The appearance of the candle light depends on my perspective. The light from the candle makes no noise. 

The sun is rising. It is different now.  Slower. As if it is having a difficult time rising out of its bed in the galaxy.  A brilliant red, be it from smoke from neighboring fires or other causes.  It is brilliant.  The light from the rising sun makes no noise.  Silent Light.

In a world filled with clamoring and clattering and chattering noise, the subliminal message is that we need to make noise in order to be noticed.  In order to be appreciated.  In order to have meaning.  In order to make a difference.  Not true.  It is in silence that The Voice is heard.  It is in silence that God does the best work.  It is in silence that we are able to listen.  It is in silence that we speak most clearly.

The Light is necessary.  Consider for a moment life without light.  It is impossible.  Though the darkness, figurative or literal, threatens to overwhelm, it is the brilliance of the light, no matter how dim or bright, that overcomes.

What is your darkness?  What is keeping you from seeing The Light?  What is preventing you from being The Light?  It only takes a small, radiant beam to dispel the darkness.

The Light is what we are.  It’s easy to miss, or forget, or ignore, or deny.  The Light that God spoke into creation is the same Light that God speaks into us.  It is this Divine Light that not only shines on us and in us, but through us. 

What invitation is The Light extending to you?