Illuminating The Silence

“In the same way, you should be a light for other people.  Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven.”     Matthew 5:16

I recently purchased and placed around the sidewalk of my condo solar lights to illuminate the path after dark.  The lights are spaced apart to provide brightness along the sidewalk without any dark areas.  The lamps provide an artistic circle of illumination that enhances the beauty of the condo walkway.  Now when I take my dog, Annie, out at night, I have light to guide me, and I also enjoy the beauty of the reflection.  My solar lights depend on the sun to store power so that they can shine brightly in the night.

To illuminate means to make something visible or bright by shining a light on it.  We use luminaries during the holiday season to light the path into our churches and down our streets.  To illuminate is also to help to clarify or explain.  We shed light on a subject or problem.  We clarify, explain, and expound upon ideas and situations.  What is illuminating your path?

Darkness is intense at the beginning of the grief journey.  Darkness of our souls.  Darkness toward beauty and hope and sunshine.  Nothing is helpful.  Nothing explains our feelings and emotions.  Nothing makes sense.  Nothing clarifies what has just happened.  We see no future or direction. Our direction and purpose have been lost, and the light seems dim, barely a flicker. 

We feel the silence in the darkness.  But in the silence of the pain and loneliness, Jesus comes.  At first the light of His love and presence is too bright, too hopeful, too good.  The rapids of the river of life throw us all over with barely a moment to catch our breath.  Jesus reaches out His hand to bring us to shore to rest for a while.  It is in this silence that our pain and hurt and loneliness begins to comprehend and accept this different life.  We struggle with acceptance.  It is not what we now desire, or thought would be our life.  The path to the past is dark and lined with regret, pain, loss, and existence if we choose to stay only in the past.

Jesus sits with us in this silence.  Silence is needed to give our hearts and minds time to adjust from the dark to the illuminating presence of Jesus and his peace and hope.  From the intensity of grief and just existing through the day, we are processing how to live the life we now have.  Silence provides the space for enlightenment to take residence in our soul.  We begin to accept the fact that life changed, and the seasons of life happen without our consent.  The eyes of our hearts have been exposed only to the darkness of the intensity of hurt.  It will take time to adjust to the illumination of hope and a different life.  The wisdom of silence leads us to the light we do not want to acknowledge fully.  Our past is complete, and we need to step into the present and future and live what seems impossible to do.  We need to take one step at a time just like light illuminates one step forward at a time.

Quiet your soul and listen to the silence.  In this silence you will hear the light of Jesus.  Other sounds tend to drown out this quiet.  We are afraid of quiet at times because in the quiet we see the reality of life.  In this reality, we need the light of Christ to guide us.  It is treacherous to walk without the light of Jesus’s love to guide us.  One step and one moment at a time into the illumination of life.  Jesus refreshes us and fills us with the light of his presence.  It takes time to absorb His presence and shine again in the world.