Light Shines - Even in the Dark

Unfortunately, for various reasons, I missed my routine walk this morning. But then this moon greeted me tonight, and all was right with the world. A haze made the moon appear a lamplight far on the horizon, floating free in the darkness of the wide sky. It seemed to me a beacon, a guide in the night.

For a person who grew up outdoors and often in the woods, I am famous for my terrible sense of direction. As a boy, I knew the anxiety that came with realizing I was turned and all alone a long way from home. As a teenager I knew the embarrassment of going into the woods with friends in the darkness of a cold winter morning, only to find with the rising sun that I had not ended up in my spot. I then spent all the time my friends were hunting trying to find my way back to something familiar.

As a city-dwelling adult, I am frequently driving the wrong direction or failing to take the correct exit or at a loss to find my truck. At work these days, when asked to park in a place other than my usual spot, I never seem to remember that I have done so. The good news is that I get in a few extra steps walking around the building in search of my truck.

Fortunately, in the most important aspects of my life, I can always see the light on the horizon, no matter how dark the night or how turned around I find myself in this crazy world. There is the guiding light of parents who both loved and taught me well. There is the beacon of friends who believe in me and pray for me that is always in sight, however dim my vision at any particular moment. There is the light of love that reaches into my life, all the way to those corners I work so hard to keep hidden, even from myself.

The Psalmist writes of God, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” And the word we have from God, above and beneath and within all the words, is a word of love and grace and forgiveness. This is the lamp and light that will guide us out of our darkness. This is the lamp and light that will lead us back home.

Tonight I was reminded of a beautiful truth: the sun does not have to be shining for us to see the light; the moon points the way as well. We are never alone or left to wander unaided. In both the brightness of day and in the dark of night, the light shines on the horizon. May we have eyes to see.

Peace.