Light

It is amazing to me how much a little change in light can affect my whole day.

I first noticed the change in light this morning while waiting for my bus downtown. It was the first time since December that it was light enough to see without the street lights at 7:30 am. As the sky continued to lighten, I realized that it really was not as coldas it has been. I was very grateful. I got to leave my long underwear and boots at home for the first time in two weeks (we've had single digit and sub-zero temps for about a week now) knowing that the temperatures would be in the 40's today.

As the morning progressed, I noticed that my office window was streaming in light over my shoulder and it was a warm, pervasive light. Simply put, it gave joy to my heart.

When I was a young girl, my grandmother came from Arizona to live with us a couple of times. She never made it much past the dreary days of February. She missed the turquoise skies and the bright sunshine of the desert that she called home. She called it "her desert". But, one has to wonder if she would have appreciated it as much if she had not had to come live in gray, dreary Central Ohio in the wintertime. Nothing makes you appreciate something like losing it.

All of the psalms that I read this morning for Morning Prayer were about repentance and the return of Christ's light to our hearts. As I sat in the chapel, admiring the Hibiscus in the warm morning sunlight, I thought about how the soul is affected by light, not just Christ's, but also the sunlight. With the sunlight and the Light of Christ, we flourish and blossom. Lacking either, we wither away.

I am (of course) reminded of a song:

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee,
God of Glory, Lord of Love.
Hearts unfold like flowers before thee,
Opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness.
Drive the dark of doubt away.
Giver of Immortal Gladness,
Fill us with the light of day.

(Henry Van Dyke, 1907)

Photo by Ann-Kathrin Koch from 10Things