With God, the light will always lead you home

"The God who said, 'Out of darkness the light shall shine!' is the same Godwho made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6)

It's funny how even weather is a matter of perspective. Recently, I've been hearing a lot of comments about this "rough winter we've been having!" Sure, we've had some snow, more than usual, but for me this is nothing. I was born and raised in upstate New York!

There, winter meant one thing -- snow, snow and more snow! A few inches was a mere trifle and a foot of snow was a common phenomenon. It wasn't until wehit a few feet that we did more than yawn, and even then the city buses managed to make their rounds. Certainly, a few inches of snow wasn't the biggest news story to hit town since "War of the Worlds!" And I loved every inch of it.

As a teenager, one of my favorite "winter" things was getting off the bus at the end of a school day and taking the long walk down the street to my home. In the dark of early evening, snow would be falling heavy around me, a silver moon hanging in an azure sky, couched in a halo of light, and the only sound would be the crunching of my boots on the packed snow.

There was such a peace in those few minutes that it took to walk past houses where mothers were cooking dinner and fathers, just home from work, were dusting snow off their felt hats and hanging up woolen coats.

As I got closer to the house my eyes would always be drawn to the warm amber light that shown through the living room window, and that feeling of warmth would spread through my whole body. That light meant welcome, security, acceptance, home. That light meant love. In my youthful ignorance, I never stopped to think that not everyone had the same experience that I did returning home, and not everyone found a light shining in the window for them everyday. As I grew older and learned that unfortunate truth, I promised myself that I would do everything I could to ensure that my own children would have the same experience of that light in the window.

Now as an adult on a continuing faith journey, I have come to equate the Light of Christ with the light of my youth -- finding in Him an even greater welcome, security, home and love. And again, I have realized that not everyone has the same experience of a loving and welcoming God. Pain and grief have a way of blinding us as the cruelest of blizzards can block out the light that leads us home.

And so I have made another promise to myself and to my Lord that I would do everything I could to ensure that my brothers and sisters in faith would find their way home as I have -- knowing that God always leaves the light on for us.

_________________________________________

Mary Morrell is the author of Angels in High Top Sneakers, from Loyola Press.

Contact

Diocese of Metuchen
http://www.diometuchen.org NJ, US
Mary Regina Morrell - Associate Director, Office of Religious Education, 732 562-1990

Email

mmorrell@diometuchen.org

Keywords

God

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