The Light

"Arise, alight, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you." Isaiah 60:1

Light has a habit of showing up at the beginning of things.

"Let there be light," He said, and there was. God spoke it at the start. He turned it on for us, illuminating our world when we could not. He was like the parent who comes into the dark of a child's room, flipping on the switch and flooding the space with a warm yellow glow. We, like children, could not have reached that place. We were helpless, and He gave us what we needed. He gave us our start.

He began something. He began our understanding of Him, our relationship with Him. Just as He created physical light, He created an understanding of Himself in Adam and Eve. He walked and talked with the young couple, interacting in that place of light, that place of new fellowship. He knew them, and they knew Him.

And then in that perfectly formed garden, Adam and Eve rejected the purity of who God is. In their quest for knowledge, they instead plunged themselves into darkness and confusion. Effectively, a veil dropped across the human understanding of God.



He still came to us, throughout our Hebrew-breathed history, explaining Himself when we needed it. Often, He came in light. A burning bush. A pillar of fire. A star.

A star. He came, as a newborn baby under the light, so quietly and mysteriously that first night. But He would not stay hidden for long. Instead of remaining concealed, He sent that star to show us the way. And the Magi, those Kings of Orient, followed, intrigued--searching for answers, coming to meet this new King. They were not Jewish. We do not know if they had been anticipating a Messiah or not. What we do know is that God, once again, flipped a switch. He turned on that star for the Magi, inviting them to come see who He is. And they responded.

Daily, there are moments when He reveals Himself to me. He reveals Himself to me in the homeless woman I spoke to at the food carts yesterday. He reveals Himself to me in the conversation I have with my best friend. He reveals Himself to me in my graduate classes. He reveals Himself to me when I go for a run.

As He turns on the light, flooding my world with the reality of who He is, I feel a connection to those Magi. I sometimes feel like a foreigner, grasping to understand God, wanting to find Him, but not quite sure where to look. Without His revelation of Himself to me, I would be stuck in a place where I did not know Him.

But He reaches down. He starts something in me. He sends a bit of His light to me, and I start to follow Him. And as I follow Him, I start to know who He is. And as He continues to show more and more of Himself to me, I relate more and more to Him. He started what I could not. He sustains what I cannot.

This epiphany season, as light switches on. A new beginning is set in motion. And I respond to my Father as a helpless child, trusting that He will provide me with what I need for the journey ahead.

--Virginia Hood