Gungor's "This is not the end" was playing on repeat. "We will open our eyes wide... wider. We will open our mouths wide... wider." And as I climbed a tree, feeling the textured bark under my fingertips and on the pads of my feet, I was reminded of the beauty of this world. The bumps and ripples of the bark, swirling and eddying around knots and branches, waves of texture that called me to stop and notice the wonder that is all around us.
Jesus said, "You are the light of the world..." but the purpose of light is not to blind people, to shine into their eyes and dazzle them with purity and brilliance so that they cannot see. Light exists that we might see other things - see the world around us, in all its beauty and wonder and horror and pain - and to know it as it was meant to be known.
So, my part of being light today is simply this...
Slow down. Find a moment to step away from the distractions of your phone, your job, the clamoring call of everything that demands attention from you NOW...
Breathe deeply. Notice the air flowing in your lungs - the rise and fall of your chest - the wonder of breath through wide open mouths.
Feel a tree. Or a leaf. The bumps, whorls, ridges, patterns that are there. Practice seeing - truly seeing - what surrounds you. Be amazed.
Look at your beloved - your son - your daughter - your lover - truly see them... and rejoice.
I suppose if we were to go around like this all the time, we wouldn't ever get anything done. We would be like Dostoevsky's Prince Mishkin, always so completely wonderstruck with awe at the beauty all around us that dishes would pile up, reports would go unwritten, facebook statuses unupdated.
That sounds pretty nice actually...
