A Unique Light
There is something very special about the night.
I’ve been enamored with the night sky ever since I was a little girl. I could stare at the stars for hours—and I often did. With my Atlas of the Night Sky and a flashlight in hand, I’d gaze up, searching for the constellations and planets within view.
On the nights of meteor showers, I loved “camping” in the bed of Dad’s truck for the best view, or lying on the hillside under a blanket of sky, waiting for the next shooting star. I remember the tickling anticipation. I knew another meteor would flash soon; I just didn’t know when. There couldn’t be a more magical way to fall asleep.
Even now, gazing up into the night fills me with that same wide-eyed wonder. There’s a deep sense of the sacred for me—as though I’ve stepped into a vast, endless cathedral that surrounds me—and that I’m also a part of.
Night has a way of inviting us to face the mysterious, the unknown, the hidden—and to bring certain things into focus more clearly. It can feel unsettling at times. And yet, it is only in the darkness that we can distinguish the unique ways the moon, the stars, the planets, the meteors, the comets, and even the northern lights each shine a little differently—each sharing its own beauty, filling us with wonder.
The same is true with us. The gentle, mystical light of the Divine often reveals itself most clearly through us in the darkest seasons. Light from within breaks through, and our individual, unique ways of sharing love, kindness, compassion, and hope shine their brightest. There is tremendous beauty and awe in witnessing that light in others, receiving it, or even recognizing it within ourselves.
And now, in this darkest time of the year, we’re invited to step into the stillness of the night with a sense of joyful anticipation—to notice the light that will flash and shine forth all around us in so many beautiful souls.
We can be certain it will appear, even if we don’t know exactly when—because it is the spark of the Divine Light that shines within all of us.
A Light that fills far beyond even the wonders of the natural world.
A Light that whispers to us whenever we step into the quiet cathedral of the night.
