Of Those Who Bring the Light
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by Sarah Inglis
Back in the mid-seventies, I was struggling with a particular situation that I could do nothing about. I prayed that the situation would change, but nothing happened. Finally I realized that I would have to change my prayer, so I prayed differently--not that the situation would change but that I would see it the way God wanted me to see it. The result of that prayer is this meditation.The Light shines--and suddenly we see. Have you ever watched the sun rise at dawn, the light gradually filling the landscape? Or watched it set in the evening? Early in the morning some things appear in shadow, and at sunset the reverse is true. If we look at two pictures of the same landscape, one taken at sunrise and one taken at sunset, things aren't what they appear to be at all. The Light shines, and suddenly--we see. And what we see we just as suddenly label, categorize and judge. But the Light doesn't judge; it illuminates.
Sometimes the bringers of the Light are hated because what was in shadow is now exposed, and we react with fear. As the Light shines on those once-shadowed places, have you noticed how clear everything becomes? Watch and look with me. If we look carefully at what we see, we learn to understand--and what we understand we can choose to accept, what we choose to accept we can grow to love, what we grow to love we need not fear. Life is like a day with a sunrise and a sunset, and every event, situation, relationship is part of the landscape. The Light gives us the chance to choose the way we look at what we see. Without the Light we would have no understanding, and without understanding there would be no choice.
At times, when the Light shines on a particular part of the landscape, we get in touch with feelings about what we see, feelings that are not really part of the landscape but ones we put onto the landscape. Sometimes those feelings make us so uncomfortable we forget the purpose of the Light and concentrate on the feelings instead. And then the Light becomes an enemy, not a friend. When that happens we become anxious and afraid; to cover our fear we get angry at ourselves or at those people, events, situations we feel are to blame.
To become a Child of Light is to be reborn on a new level of awareness, and that new awareness brings us freedom to choose. Yet too often we choose to be unhappy about what we see, and our unhappiness comes only because we make a negative judgment about what the Light illuminates. If we chose to look with compassion on all that we saw, then there would be no need for forgiveness because we wouldn't have condemned.
The Light is our friend, and that friend loves us so much, believes in us so much, that we are given the freedom to choose how we feel about what we see. And that Love makes all the difference!
Sarah, a 1988 graduate of the Spiritual Guidance Program, lives in Merion Station, PA. For several years she co-led an introductory spiritual formation group and will be offering group spiritual direction groups in Pennsylvania this fall.
© 2008 The Shalem Institute.