Light

by charityrattray

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Processed with VSCO with av4 preset photo Sam Ridgell https://www.instagram.com/samridgell/

Light makes all the difference.  Hard light.  Broad light.  Even the distance matters.  Every now and again a photograph captures the pull light has on us.

Diffused light soft and quiet says, “Come stand here.”  Morning light has a warm tint to it.  Afternoon light is cooler in tone and has a strength and boldness about it.  There is diversity in application and emotion all for which a terrible need for the right sort of light, exists.  Film and photography creatives know the value in light for any project. In the Northwest we are starved for more length to our days.  Even my home I am often throwing back curtains to let more light in.  Similarly in rooms of faith the same hunger is present.  How do we stand in the light when we know our own imperfections?

I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing—
that the light is everything—

– Mary Oliver, House of Light

What I believe about God defines what level of openness I approach these rooms of faith.  So pay attention to what you believe about God.

God is unclouded light to our days.  He is the lucent light of the world.  He is unobscured goodness.  Let this light define.

Yes, there is darkness, unexplained here.   Our world is full of the muted grey and black shades of hate.  When you see it in yourself, in others, in our communities, and the world welcome a greater truth.  His light endures.

“Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that came down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light that endures.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

In John 8 just after Jesus doesn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery he redirects our focus.  It isn’t on those who fail us, or even our own failings.  He is the object of worth.  He is everything.  He illumined her human frailty and ultimately freed her.  He is the light unchanging and ultimately is life offered to us.
Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Imperfections really don’t matter when we come to Christ, Christ is everything.  He welcomes you to be born again, made new with new memories and a new identity.
“My first memory is of light — the brightness of light — light all around.”
― Georgia O’Keeffe
– Uncategorized

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