Leaning Toward the Light

Leaning Toward the Light

“You are the light of the world…”                John 5:14

“Make of yourself a light…”                         The Buddha

“Light, God’s eldest daughter…                    Thomas Fuller

“It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.”   Mary Dunbar

            Winter…my least favorite season.  Every year I tell folks who live in more northerly climes, “Winter in Birmingham is tolerable---it’s never cold for long.”  This year, I cannot say that.  Winter has been cold, wet, dark, and generally, dismal.  Plants in winter lose their color; they go leggy, turn yellow and look sickly.  I do the same thing.  We humans need light, too.  When we don’t have it, we get grumpy, cynical, and all around disagreeable.  My friend Anna told me, “I think we need to give you a sweet pill!”  I watch the clock everyday at sunset to make sure we’re adding precious minutes of light each day.  You never know, the planet could have slowed down in all this cold, dark fog.

            It’s no accident that our spiritual leaders back through the ages used the terminology of light to describe God and the divine spark in each of us.  We value light in all its forms---light without and light within.  Jesus admonished us to “let our light shine,” and so did the Buddha. The first order of creation in Genesis, “God said, let there be light.”  The coming of the Messiah was described as a “great light unto the nations.”  Jesus described himself, saying, “I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn. 8:12) Light is life itself.

            Here is an unfortunate truth.  We would not feel this way about light if there were no darkness.  The adventure of finding the light within ourselves usually involves copious amounts of darkness.  Trial and error, with an emphasis on both.  It is the rare person who is born in the light, and walks in light all their days.  Even Jesus didn’t accomplish that.  When I look at little babies I think, oh, that they may never experience pain and darkness.  But they will, because that is the nature of the created order.  Light and darkness, yin and yang. 

            In my experience, the deepest darkness has produced the brightest light.  Like diving into the depths of the ocean and coming up with phosphorescent life—it is digging in the darkness that produces gold, diamonds.  I don’t like it, but there it is. Winter is a good time to delve a little into your own darkness.  Once embraced, claimed, it is less dark, more like one of those low wattage light bulbs.  Sometimes it is so bright it hurts your eyes.

           I will joyfully greet the spring this year.  I hope it’s bright, bursting with color and light.   It’s coming, y'all; a few minutes more each day. 

                                                                        Keep the faith,

                                                                        Jane