Walking in the Light of God

"Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you....Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you might become children of the light." John 12:35-36

As the season turns to autumn and the earth rolls on her axis away from the sun, I am more captivated by light, what it can do, what its reflection can do, and what happens when life is filled with only shadows and darkness. When I was with my Mom last week, we went out and purchased her solar powered lights for her walkways and other places - to light her way and keep her safe from falling. We can't prevent everything, but we can try to provide light in the dark so her steps can be sure. Most of us don't think about it until we are older, but we really need the light to walk - and if we can't see, we use our hands and other people as our eyes. Stumbling around in sudden darkness is scary and frustrating. Familiar object increase and decrease in size randomly, and common becomes increasingly bizarre in our grasping for direction. Stumbling around in deep darkness also reminds me of how much I need the light, natural and constant and the light of God's love, constant and eternal. Without these, I am groping, stumbling and heading for a fall.

God's light is that which is not determined by time of day or by season. The loving Creator has provided us with heavenly light, sun, moon and stars to guide our way. Being the source of all creativity, God has gone on to give us light in the darkness, steps to walk and dance in the most dangerous and shadowed times of our lives. Like the beacon that stands high up on the shore line guiding ships to safety and home port, this light searches the darkness for the lost, sending out her signal far and wide to those who might be in danger. God's love light radiates in a full circle, over and over again, seeking out those who are in peril, tossed in the night.
We have all been tossed around in the dark and stumbled, reaching out for any handholds to guide us.

May we today, have courage to walk in the light, to trust the light and to live in the abundance of God's light. First, we have to admit that we are lost. Then, in the moment of our admission, somehow we are able to see the search light looking for us. God surrounds us with beacons of light to show us the way, in people, in community, in all living creatures and in the very earth on which we walk. There are so many who are lost, and feeling lost today. There are many without a home and without direction. There are so many lost because of hurricanes and accidents. May we remember all of those who are lost, ourselves included, and ask God to use us to be part of the light for others. God's light is radiant, constant and constantly renewing. May we walk today trusting God, carrying that light to all we meet.