Darkness To Light

When I sit down each morning to listen in the quiet, waiting for something I can send to you as Shining Spirit, I look out over the neighborhood through a second-story window. My desk used to be on the opposite side of the room, which meant I faced a wall. Windows are better than walls. If I time my waiting just right, I can see the world slowly change from darkness to light, faint at first but amazingly reliable. The Santa Catalina mountains, invisible in the darkness, begin to take shape and other landmarks emerge from night’s concealment, as if being born over and over again. Someone, whose name is still lost in the darkness of my early morning mind, said: “We are always on a journey from darkness to light.” And he or she was right. No matter the age or stage of life, darkness to light. Consider: the darkness of the womb to the bright lights in the delivery room; as a child, from not knowing to learning; as a young adult, from uncertainty to self-identity; the light of the newly learned profession, the light of meaningful relationships; faith development, and so it goes. Always moving from darkness of various kinds to the light of revealing, awareness and growth. And then there is the reality of moving, in the totality of a lifetime, from self to God, from the shadows of my world more and more into the Light of wisdom and truth. Life itself is the journey from birth to death, which is little more than darkness to faint light to partial clarity to Brilliance. Maybe the purpose of our days is to be cognizant of life as “journey” and to be gratefully open to all that calls us, shapes us, into human beings. For sure, life as journey is a gift and an opportunity. Being afraid to move from darkness to light, no matter what the context might be; choosing to live in darkness is a thankless response to a precious gift.

So I think this is the point I’m trying to make: this day will move from darkness to light, night to day whether I agree, approve or choose to be part of it. As a gift, it is offered to us as an opportunity to take a few more steps toward light and Light. Today is your chance to walk more fully into the light as one alert, aware, even astonished. At the end of the day, you will not be the same person you were in the early morning darkness. You will have moved toward light and Light. Do it with a grateful heart, helpful hands and a determination born of trust in sacred hope.

So, having said all of that, I will sit here at my window, fingers ready to strike the keys, waiting for the dawn of light over the mountains and the cordial arrival of Insight. When that happens, I will send it along.