Trim
Your Wick
“Don't
you know yet? It is your Light that lights the world.”
Rumi
Rumi quoted a similar
Light who lived twelve hundred years before him—Jesus, who said,
“You are the Light of the world.” (Matt 5:14) How brightly
does your light shine? Is it “a city on a hill” that cannot be
hidden, or is it a lamp put under a bowl, that can't be seen? Maybe,
somewhere in between? It's so very easy to get caught up in the
trials and tribulations of the world, especially now that we ordinary
humans are spared nothing of the seedy, seamy goings-on of every
known culture on earth. When we're stuck in the muck, our light
flickers and sometimes is so dim even we can't see it.
I vacillate as to whether
it's best to know everything I can, or best to protect myself from
the worst of it. Whether it's the Pandora's box that Harvey
Weinstein's predatory behavior has opened up, or the
inexplicable seven-year-old bullying done by our own president;
whether it's Buddhists killing Muslims, or Muslims killing
Christians, or Christians killing Muslims, or white supremacists
marching through streets with torches like something out of the
Dark Ages; whether it is destructive storms, fires, or earthquakes, it
would seem that there is not much to celebrate at the moment. You know, and I know, that good things are also happening, but we don't always get to see them. Somehow, that is not considered newsworthy--even at a time when we very much need to see with our own eyes that somewhere in all this darkness, a redemptive light shines. This is
exactly when a spiritual discipline is essential to keep your wick
trimmed and your light burning brightly.
Rumi, that ancient Sufi
sage, said this: “Submit to daily practice. Keep knocking and
the joy inside will eventually open a window.” Whether your
daily practice is prayer or meditation, yoga or running, swimming or
water aerobics, writing a blog or a journal, double down and keep
going. Daily practice is the one thing that will keep you attached to
the ground of your being, to your inner truth, to the indwelling
Spirit. It will open your window to joy. The world is full of noisy
ghosts rattling sabers and chains, but inside you, there's a quiet
space where you may polish your lamp and recognize that you—yes,
you—are the Light of the world.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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