Let There Be Light (Katie)

  Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm an uncomfortable flyer. I say an Our Father and a Hail Mary before taxiing out to the runway as if my life depended on it, a definite show of more enthusiasm than usual, which I'm guessing doesn't fool God (or Mary) one iota. My phobia goes up even more when there are weather issues, as happened on a flight from Miami in May. There were giant thunderstorms up and down the eastern seaboard and we needed to fly several hundred miles inland to avoid them, adding over an hour to our flight time. On our final approach to La Guardia that seemed to go on forever, we were in a thick and dark cloud cover with lots of turbulence and I kept looking out the window hoping to see land. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, we broke through the clouds. The plane was just at the southern tip of Manhattan flying north at maybe  3000 feet and our delay meant the lights of the City were all on, illuminating landmark buildings, the lights of Broadway and a home game at Yankee Stadium. The night below us was crystal clear as if every particle had been absorbed into the clouds above and all those colorful lights felt close enough to touch, a  truly magical display. I wasn't the only one who noticed.  A little girl behind me said, "Look Mommy, it's like Christmas!"
                    
          I don't think there is one among us who doesn't know the feeling of being stuck in the muck, unsure if we will ever see the light. As we find ourselves in the midst of the Holiday Season, it seems a good time to remember we cannot live without light in all its manifestations.  The Festival of Lights, Hanukkah (Dec. 16-24 this year), celebrates the miracle of one day's worth of oil burning for eight days until more oil could come to light the rededicated temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC. In John's Gospel, John the Baptist speaks of the light of the world, he who is to come; Jesus' birth is the light made manifest. The first words God speaks in the Old Testament are, "Let there be light." This is a few days, as the story goes, before the sun, moon and stars were created, so even the ancient writers knew of the importance of a larger concept of light.  

          All of us have the ability to experience this light when we arrive at a point of wisdom, when someone's eyes light up with joy, when we have faith and believe without "seeing."  It seems to me, light comes into the soul when we experience grace or goodness, or the beginning of peace when we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Most importantly, in a world where we have little control over so much, we can be the light for one another.
                                    
          Edith Wharton wrote, "There are two ways of spreading light:  to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." Light is contagious; pass it on.  (Katie)