“Faith is a light of such supreme brilliance that it dazzles the mind and darkens all its visions of other realities, but in the end when we become used to the new light, we gain a new view of all reality transfigured and elevated in the light itself.”

– Thomas Merton

There are lessons we learn that sometimes need to be forgotten.  I picture myself as a child, dancing and cartwheeling through summer days without a care in the world.  The sun was fierce and the days were scorching; but if I began to mind the heat, I would run for a drink or dive into the pool and cool myself.  As soon as I felt refreshed, I would once again jump into the dance and celebrate the sunlight.  They years passed, and I began to learn things about dancing in the sun.  I learned that the sun could burn me; and I began to worry about spoiling my hairdo by dunking it in the water.  Before I knew it, I found myself seeking shade under the large maple tree and enjoying neither the dance nor the refreshment of the cool water.  I learned that keeping a large tree between myself and the sun would protect me from sunburn and make me comfortable, although I did sometimes long for the days when I cartwheeled and skipped between sunlight and pool.

How often do we walk in shadows because we have learned to fear the Light?  Has our fear of being burned by the sun made us afraid of walking in the light?  Have we forgotten that the Light is all around us, and that we have chosen to create shadows by placing things between ourselves and its brilliance?  All sorts of things can create shadows.  When we allow fear or anger to separate us from the light, we may find comfort in not having to see them clearly; but like the adult who sits under the sheltering tree, we may feel as though there is something we are missing — something forgotten that has been hidden by our fear of being burned.

Love and Light are so compatible that they long for each other.  We must not allow our fear or our anger to separate our love from the Light that called it into existence.  Look at the things that create shadows in your life.  Don’t be confused by your lessons from the sun.  Protect your skin from being burned, but know that the Light leaves your skin untouched.  Rediscover the love that called you to cartwheel and skip through your childhood days.  Step outside of your fear and dance in the Light.

Lessons Learned and Forgotten

Don’t stare into the sun

It will blind you.

Don’t fly too close,

For your wings are of wax

And surely you will fall.

**

The icy cliffs are beautiful;

Resist them,

For they’re made of cold

That burns like fire

And kills the flesh.

**

Beyond the veil

Past moon and stars

Expanding toward infinity

There lies a place

Where infinite is small.

**

The Light, the Source

Ten-thousand-suns bright

Begs to be seen

Stare into it and see;

Fly close and find your wings.

**

No heat; no cold; no barrier

To blind or melt

Or burn, or slow.

Only Truth

That shines like Peace.

© Pamela Stead Jones 2008