Shine a Light

I use this gold rimmed drinking glass everyday. Its always in position, right below the spigot of a one-gallon, oversized mason jar-like beverage container that I use as a water jug. I’ve always thought the little glass had a Marrakesh kind of a vibe but all I know is that I like it and after many years I’ve never grown tired of using it.

Today I saw it in a different light. For a change I carried that glass full of water into another room where I was reading. It was still early morning so I had a lamp on. The light shone through the pink glass and illuminated it and for the first time I saw it differently, “in another light,” as it were.

The thing I noticed most was that the previously non-descript scrollwork design was actually made of a simple, repetitive leafy vine pattern. Ah, life right there in my hand and I was unaware of it!

Sometimes it takes seeing the everyday in a different light. A friend you know, an elder in your family, a curmudgeon at the post office or at church. Light reveals. Sometimes we see someone in a negative light when in reality they are seeking truth and beauty as hungrily as we are. Sometimes we cast a rosy glow on someone because we desperately need them to be good, caring, and kind but occasionally the light of day will show us differently. The streaming sunlight may reveal that they are not who they appeared to be and disappointment may set in. How much of that has to do with who we thought they should be because we needed (unconsciously perhaps) them to be fair and just. Oh, the light reveals the truth. The pure in heart have no fear of the light and its revealing power. They welcome transparency.

Others. . . not so much. The light does reveal the unseen and happily there is much more loveliness than there is not and it lies waiting to be revealed.

Shine a light.