Birds, Sleep, and Progress

this week's Light Show

Darren, a friend of mine, keeps Light Show in his computer. It’s a program of his own making. In this file, he records all incidences of Divine Guidance, Divine Intervention, answered prayers, and serendipitous events in his life. Whenever he begins to doubt the presence of a Benevolent Force, whenever he stops trusting life, whenever he feels abandoned or wonders exactly how wise it is to trust God, he turns to his own light show to remind himself how powerful and wise it really is to let go. —Melody Beattie

I read this reflection in Beattie’s wonderful More Language of Letting Go a couple weeks ago (there’s an app too!) and was taken with the idea of a Light Show, especially at this time of year, when the light makes its creeping return to the northern hemisphere. I’m writing this on Imbolc, the Celtic festival day at the midpoint between the winter solstice and the first day of spring. You can read more about Imbolc in a post from a year ago… in which I also quote Melody Beattie. (I’m nothing if not cyclical…)

The language of “Divine Guidance, Divine Intervention, answered prayers, and serendipitous events” wobbles a bit for me. I certainly believe in all of the above, but a lot of these things unfold reaaaaaaaaalllly sloooooowly in my life. Like, maybe the prayers being answered are from months or years ago? Maybe I’ve even forgotten them by now! But I do like the idea of paying attention and writing it all down. I guess that’s what the Blue Room really is. A colleague shared this article about writing down everything you notice, called “Stop Ignoring All the Mundane Miracles in Your Life.”¹ Good advice! The universe seems to be trying to tell me something. Look around. Write it down.

In that spirit, and in hopes that you’ll be inspired to make your own list, here are the first three things that come to mind when I think about a Light Show from the past week:

Birds. 

I’m no bird watcher—haven’t honed those observational skills yet—so when I spot one it’s pretty special, and usually a gift from the bird, who didn’t mind being seen by me. The other day while on a walk, a woodpecker flew right across my path (either red-headed or pilleated, it was moving too fast). When I returned home later via the same path, I heard it pecking away high in a tree.

And a neighbor sent this along, taken from the same stretch of woods in back of our houses:

Barred owl!

Progress.

One of my kids has been really showing up lately for some friends who are struggling a lot. This is a shift from the recent past, in which they were the one others were showing up for. Grateful for both of those things, but showing up for others means healing has happened and strength is growing.

Reminders.

I pulled this card from my Rest Deck this week:

I’ve been craving extra sleep all week, and this simple message has given me permission to indulge that craving as much as I can, without trying to diagnose, or worse, without talking myself out of that need because there’s no reason you “should” be more tired than usual. I don’t need a reason to take exceptional care of myself!

~

I’m reading Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ, a book I got from the library but know I’ll need to own² before it’s all done. In the first chapter, he drops this pearl:

Remember, light is not so much what you directly see as that by which you see everything else. This is why in John’s gospel, Jesus Christ makes the almost boastful statement “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Jesus Christ is the amalgam of matter and spirit put together in one place, so we ourselves can put it together in all places, and enjoy things in their fullness.

A perfect segue to:

Your turn

• Tell me about your own light show.

• What has that light revealed to you?

~

What I’m Up To

I’m preaching this Sunday at 10:15 EST at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon, in person or via livestream. 

Steady on!

1. Thanks Traci.

2. Trinity people: We may need a discussion about this book. Stay tuned in 2024-2025!