This is the second morning it happens, perhaps the third.
I sit in traffic, waiting for the light to change from red to green. But it is not that kind of light which captures my attention. I lift my hand to brush away my hair …
… and sunlight streams through and around my fingers, everything aglow. Such a beautiful sight!
To think that this wondrous thing of beauty is right here, right in rush hour traffic, in the all-too-often grayness of the city! I stare at the five fingers, all pinkish golden, bathed in sunlight. And in more than that, because surely the light of this world cannot be enough to transform mere flesh and blood into such uplifting wonder. Not when it touches the heart so!
The snake of cars moves up a few paces and I follow. Then comes another turn to wait for green. But it is the gold I want to see. I lift my other hand away from the steering wheel as well, cup both hands in front of my face … cupping light between fingers, golden sunlight pooling in palms.
It is as if the light does more than simply flow around palms and thin, cold fingers. More than flowing through. It is as if it settles within. My hands glow.
I breathe deeply, the morning’s stresses transformed into joy. Lead transformed into gold. Exhaustion transformed into energy. Where once was darkness, suddenly: LIGHT!
For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord.
Walk as children of Light! ~ Ephesians 5:8
It only lasts a few short moments, the energy-created-by-light-pouring-and-pooling, but it makes the moment complete. And even when the demands of a hard day on a too-tired body let the grayness flow in again later, I find strength in the golden memory, reaching back into my mind often for its comfort …
… and every time coming to a standstill for a few breaths, transformed by the alchemy of the Light.
*
The next time you sit in traffic … forget about the grayness, the rush, the hurrying-but-waiting. Lift up your hands. Look.
Drink in the light.
Be transformed into joy!
Wish I could have captured the light in the car, but this comes close. And it's safer!
