Tuesday, February 23, a cool but pleasant foggy morning in the gazebo. Beads of water are trapped in the west screen. The birds are chirping and cawing, asking permission to be  as they once more greet the day. A snowy white egret glides gracefully over the pond. Creation is once again groaning into new life. The sheer wonder of it all! It sprang forth billions of years ago when the creator made and exploded the first stardust. Creation surged forth into a mighty blast. Life was beginning.

I am an iteration of the living stardust, one with the whole, coming forth in the very image and likeness of the Creator. As I awake and greet a new day, I greet it with gratitude. The Creator sustains me, the Redeemer gives me new life, and Spirit breath in-spires me.

Judy’s Look for the Light “game” focuses energy. I look for and expect the light in others. It works. Merton came to see the light in others. People were walking around Fourth and Walnut in Louisville “shining like the sun,” reflecting the divine image deep down, iterations of the Creator’s stardust in their inscape.

Jesus, the Word, who was before all else, danced at the dawn of creation. Wisdom incarnate is the Light of the world. We are the light of Jesus and the flame of the Spirit. We are one in God. We say “namaste” as we bow reverently to the Light in the Creator and in one another.

Now, the sun is beginning to burn away the fog. Night and dawn are slowly morphing into day. Palms and pines reflect their beauty in the still waters of the sunlight pond. God lets the sun shine on the good and the evil. God reaches to the light in the very depths of our being and burns away the fog of the false self. God is calling us forth to abundant life this very day. God’s Word has been spoken and we are baptized into life.

The egret is now standing on the bank of the pond looking for manna for the day. With a hobbled, jerky gate, she pursues her prey. Soon the gator will come out to sun on the bank. Creation is yawning and  awakening to a new day—new life, new hopes, new dreams.

But, all do not awaken to abundant life. They awaken to another day of oppression and drudgery. Some will be standing for hours in long lines at security gates into Jerusalem. Others will be huddled in houses as they listen for the return of the chop-chop of the helicopter gunships or the scream of an incoming missile from a remote drone in the hills of Afghanistan. Still others will awake in makeshift tents and wonder what they will eat and what they will do when the rains come to Haiti.

They awaken in darkness. Light and abundant life are but remote dreams but hope they must. And hope they do. Unfettered by consumptive dalliance, they awake to life as life is. They praise the Creator at dawn. They bless the Redeemer, however they name the Redeemer, throughout the day. They breathe in the Spirit of hope. They awake poor but blessed and beloved. For them too Creation is yawning and  awakening to a new day—new life, new hopes, new dreams. Maybe today, just maybe today, Light will overcome the darkness.