“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
1 John 1:5 NIV
This afternoon I lay on my bed staring out the window at nothing in particular. I’ve had a cough and runny nose. It’s been difficult to not go to work because of a simple cold.
I’ve felt all the emotions: guilt at being at home, laziness at not working, excitement over having extra time to finish a pair of socks, anxiety about the future, frustration over being stuck in the house.
In my frustration, I flopped down on the bed, stared out the window and tried to slow down my mind and pay attention to the world outside for a while. We did something similar to this at Art Guild a couple weeks ago. We spent a hour wandering through the chapel, church and sister house at St. Mary’s observing and photographing what we saw. It was a relaxing, refreshing experience.
I thought it might help me to stop and spend a few moments observing. So I lay there and watched the sunlight move along the side of the trees. I noticed the difference between the lit side and the shadowed side of a tree trunk. The sky was a beautiful muted blue, contrasting with the shimmery light brown bark. Blue and shades of brown were the only colors I could see. But the sun was evident just by looking at the bare tree trunk.
And seeing the way the light played with the colors calmed my spirit and brightened my mood.
What I noticed today was that we don’t have to stare directly at the sun to know it’s there. 1 John 1:5 says God is light. And we can see God by his reflection on other’s faces and in their lives.
Lord,
You are light.
There is no darkness in your presence.
May others see your light reflecting off of me.
Amen.
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