Ascension : News From The Grotto - Thought For The Week
Submitted by The Islander (Shari Parkhill) 31.01.2008 (Article Archived on 14.02.2008)

The response to the psalm this week is “The Lord is my light and my help”. In so many of the readings over the year we hear about how important light is in our world.

This past weekend the hash group went on a rare night hash.  We started at Garden Cottage and traveled down the side of Green Mountain, all the way to the Northeast Bay Road.  Anyone on an adventure like this can attest to the importance of light in our lives.

As we made our way along the slippery paths, and slid down the side of the mountain, the light from our torches lit the way.  What is tricky terrain in the daytime is downright dangerous in the dark!  Without light we would have been stranded in the dark, and been unable to find our way through the shrubs and over the rocks!  But the lights illuminated the way and the obstacles; well, most of the time anyway.  There were a few trips and falls, but I don’t think they could be blamed on the dark, just the steep, slippery terrain!

At one point I looked back and saw the lights from the torches twinkling in a row down the side of the mountain.  It was a beautiful sight.  When we made it to the road, the sky was amazing.  Thousands of stars sparkled in the sky overhead and shone through the darkness.  Shooting stars were pointed out and constellations and planets identified.  The full moon was also on the rise, another source of light in the darkness.

The stars and moon have lit up the night since earliest times.  They have led the way for wanderers, both on land and on sea.  In the darkness of night, they have guided people on their journey, and kept the darkness from being something that could not be overcome.  In the hours of darkness, they are hopeful little specks of light, showing us that we are never truly alone in the dark.

In everyone’s life, there are points of light, however small, which shine bright, and never go out.  Light is hope, and so long as there is one pinprick of light, there can never be a loss of hope.   Even during the times in our lives when the sun doesn’t shine in its full glory, there is always a little bit of light somewhere.  We might have to look for it, we may have to look up, but it is out there somewhere, waiting to shine just for us, and to light the way.  God will always send us a light.  All we have to do is keep our eyes open and recognize it when it shines.

May God bless all those who shine as a light in our lives.  And let us shine brightly for someone else.