Light

The struggle to extract meaning from the challenges and obstacles we face in life is perhaps the most difficult struggle that we face as human beings.  

And sometimes that search for meaning can feel like a search for light in the darkness.  We look for any break in the shadows, any illumination at all that can help us see more clearly.  

I recently rediscovered a musical artist that I've been loosely following for several years--Ryan O'Neal, otherwise known by his recordings as Sleeping At Last.  

(If you've never heard Sleeping At Last before, I highly recommend you rectify that immediately and visit the website at www.sleepingatlast.com .)

I was listening to one of Ryan's songs yesterday, and the lyrics seemed to speak directly to that idea I mentioned--the idea of our desperate search for meaning in the darkness of all life's challenges and trials.  

Emphasis

Life is a gorgeous, broken gift, 
Six billion pieces waiting to be fixed, 
Love letters that were never signed
Sent to where we live. 

But the sweetest thing I've ever heard 
Is that I don't have to have the answers, 
Just a little light to call my own. 

Though it pales in comparison
To the overarching shadows, 
A speck of light can reignite the sun
And swallow darkness whole. 

Doesn't that just make your heart ache, and then soar?  

We spend so much time trying to figure all of this out--trying to find the right theological statements and explanations to dumb down the experiences of the Divine that all of us feel deep within us. 

We offer up Hallmark card platitudes of sympathy and half-hearted encouragement in our feeble attempts to mitigate sorrow, cover up grief and push down doubt.  

And in the end, we have to admit that we don't have all the answers.  

But we can take incredible comfort in the knowledge that we do have a little bit of light.  And the light that has been passed to us comes to us from the Source of all light, who tells us that it is we who are the light in the darkness.  

Shine your little light today.  Shine it in the dark corners where light never seems to reach.  Shine it and know that you are the light of the world.  And the darkness cannot overcome you. 

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.