You Are a Light

Twice this week I have heard someone say something like this, “you know I am in this house so much it feels like a dark hole.  And then someone from hospice comes in and it is like a light, that someone is here with me and cares about me.” 

Literally two different people said that this week.  And what a powerful image to be reminded of, light in the midst of darkness. That today you can be a light to someone’s darkness by your care and your love as you are with them.  Perhaps today someone you will visit needs your light. 

I am reminded of Matthew 5:14-16a, which says,

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others…” 

A prayer:  God help me to be a light today to those in darkness.  Help me to let the light of my love and care shine to those around me.  Amen.

Chaplain Josh

The Return of Light

This morning as I walked into the room where we gather for shift change on CICU, I was immediately washed over with great beams of sunlight that filled the room. I felt the warmth spread through me and marveled at the beauty. What a difference a week makes! Just last week at this time the sky was mostly dark. Now, we walk in to a room filled with light.

May it be so in our daily lives today. Day by day, we are learning how to navigate this crisis. Hour by hour, we are trusting God, and ourselves, and one another, as we do our best to respond to calls of care faithfully and well. May we draw hope from the idea of God’s progress–that there is a system within and without that is continually drawing us, in times of chaos and in times of peace, toward harmony, wholeness, ease.

Just look out at the sky today or notice the redbuds in bloom. You’ll see it. And be blessed.

Chaplain Katherine

Bringing a Little Light

Will you be walking into a tough situation today? We often do. Sometimes circumstances ask a lot of us–professionally, emotionally, and spiritually. We may wonder whether we’re up to the task.

“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let is shine…”

We yearn to carry something into those moments that helps to make things better for those who suffer. And we need to be able to walk into those places without falling into the darkness ourselves.

“You are the light of the World. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden”

Matthew 5:14

Here’s the beauty of this Scripture, explained by Fr. Richard Rohr:

“We must wait and work with hope inside of the darkness, while never doubting the light that God always is – and that we are, too.”

Even if we just bring a small amount of our light into the darkness today, God will use that light as an opening, to increase, to abide, to overwhelm any darkness there once was. Amen!

Chaplain Susann

The Returning Light

14-15 Then God said, “Let bright lights appear in the sky to give light to the earth and to identify the day and the night; they shall bring about the seasons on the earth, and mark the days and years.” And so it was.

Genesis 1: 14-15 Living Bible (TLB)

“What is that funny light in the sky?”

Sometimes we joke about how nice it is to see the sun after long, cold, cloudy February. March brings us warmer weather and longer days–and sometimes we have to weather a few more cloudy, rainy days (pun intended).

We also see the promise of those first flowers of spring. Daffodil and tulip greens begin peeking through browned leaves from the previous winter, little red buds starting to color our trees.

The light will bring about the season, and with it, the change we and the earth crave. May that light bless you and yours today.

Chaplain Susann Estle