Shining Spirit

It’s the light that does it. The flower is beautiful, but it’s the light that brings out the delicate textures and causes the flower to glow. Light does that. Think about that time when you were having trouble remembering something, then the lost memory came back into your mind and you said: “Oh, the light just came on!” Or, that time when I said to my friend: “That was very enlightening. Thank you.” Light brings clarity, reveals, renews, gives life. The stunning flower in the photo could not have lived without light.

May the lovely flower bless you today. We need beauty in our lives. And we need light…to see, to grow, to find our way through difficult or dark times. “I am the light of the world.” “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.” Today we enter a calendar week in which it seems that darkness wins over light, evil prevails. But the beautiful truth is that neither terrible times, nor tyrants, nor tombs can overcome Light. The Light lived in the amazing life of Jesus, and The Light lives now as a spiritual Presence that shines in and through you. You are the embodiment of Light. We are Christ in the world. “Let your light shine before others so that they may see…” May see Christ yet working in the world.

The flower is beautiful because the light shines through it. You are beautiful because The Light shines through you. As I write this, the first rays of morning light are rising above the mountains. Fitting, isn’t it. Here comes the Light.

A sign of the times. Pay attention! Summer in the Sonoran Desert sends people away, we call them Snowbirds. The human population is reduced. Watch out Michigan, Wisconsin and other summer-proofed states, here they come! And those of us who tough it out during the summer season begin to see signs, like the one in the photograph, reminding that we have new neighbors who are not as hospitable as the ones who just left. These new neighbors are reclusive, unwelcoming, very protective about their land and known to defend themselves with a wicked tongue. Come to think of it, I used to have a neighbor just like that. But he didn’t bite. Yes, we are in the midst of a population shift. A sign of the times.

Anything else going on that we might call a cosmic shift? There are some signs out, like the black smudge you got on your forehead weeks ago on Ash Wednesday, or the palm branches people will wave soon, or the Maundy Thursday reenactments of the Last Supper, or the cross you wear on a chain around your neck, or that “special” sunrise when people gather to watch the dawn break in a new and hopeful way. And, of course, there is the big rock formation that resembles an ancient tomb. Signs of the time. Get ready. Be prepared. Somebody special is moving into town. By the way, I heard that he was asked one day: “Who is my neighbor?” and you know how he answered? Everybody! I’m going to ask him to move in next to me. Sounds like somebody I’d like to know. Pay attention to those signs. Quite literally, they are about death and life.