LIGHTEN UP

The poet Mary Oliver called the sun the greatest preacher there ever was.

Light….we order our days around its cycle.  A friend of mine and her husband vacationed at the Grand Canyon where they hiked to the bottom and camped out. Jess shared how energizing was the vacation because the lived and moved in accordance with the sun…rising early and slowing down their day as the sun se

 

Organized religion seeks to move to nature’s light cycle…..Easter sunrise, candlelight mass at midnight, beginning each service with the bringing in of the light. I enjoyed doing the training for the acolytes stressing how significant was their ministry….they carried in the light and started the service and at its conclusion recessed with the light symbolizing our continued work to be bearers of light for our shared community and world.  And, yes, they did an continued so to do while wearing a dress as one aggrieved acolyte expressed.

 

I believe finding and shining light is part of our make-up. Need proof? Give a kid a flashlight and let the games begin.  Part of the fun of camping was getting to use your flashlight; remember flashlight tag or one of the great games of childhood, "LIGHT BRITE?"

 

The question is what type of light bearers shall we be?  Admittedly there will be occasion for us to be a variety as the time and situation merit.  There will be times when we are a beacon calling forth a wrong needed righted and asking others to join in the fight. Maybe it’s because I’m finally reading “The Hobbit” and starting on the trek of this long epic serie, yet, I am reminded of the scene from the “Lord of the Rings” film when the beacons are lit as Gandalf exclaims, “Hope is kindled.” https://youtu.be/QhRFaY8A9cA

 

Or, perhaps we’ll be a warming fire that gathers others in….6-feet distanced of course….

 

Maybe, a searchlight or a candle lit in the darkness….as the familiar song from childhood refrains, “this little light of mine, I’m gonna’ let it shine…..”

 

In these days of gray clouds and cold winter skies, we feel our energy rise when the sun shines --- the same is true when a phone call is made, a written note received.

Notice where light is needed and respond accordingly…..