There were distance-hungry AT hikers who would continue into the night. I wasn’t one of them. The path to the privy at a shelter/tent site was hard enough for me to find in the pitch-black night with the tiny little headlamp. (In your headlamp we see light.) Besides, it was the season of 15-16 hours of daylight, and my muscles wouldn’t let me walk longer than 12 hours, including breaks. With virtually no artificial light, I learned of my need to be attentive to the sun, where it was in the sky, how many hours I had before making camp, if I needed sunscreen and, most important, I depended on its light to appreciate the intriguing, wild creation I had come to see. (In your sunlight we see light.) The psalmist, however, is talking about God’s light. In an utterly feeble analogy to the sun’s light, I could try to explain God’s light as perhaps a source of a deeper dimension of energy, food, and life, but do I even understand that? On the the other hand, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” If God’s light looks like Jesus, what is it about Jesus that reveals what God’s light is like? Is it in God’s light we can see our way clear beyond the surface of things and through the rigidity of dysfunctional systems into an unconditional love. Is it in God’s light we can see our way forward in serving others, in living by grace, forgiveness, healing, and peace? Is it in God’s light that we can hope again? In your light we see light. I am so intrigued by this phrase and yet it is so beyond me. What do you think?
Suggestions:
1. Take this verse with you and ponder its meaning for you throughout the day. What do you notice? What do you wonder? What does it say to you?
2. Or read all of Psalm 36 to discover how this verse fits into the psalm or to discover a different verse.
3. Or comment with a photo of your own that illustrates this verse’s meaning for you.
Tomorrow’s verse: Psalm 37:4-5
Starting January 1, 2016, for 150 days I am posting a daily psalm verse with a photo that is a visual meditation on the text for me. Each day a verse from the next psalm is chosen until all 150 psalms have been featured. To participate you may subscribe to my blog at https://elainedent.net or “friend” me on Facebook and watch for the daily links to blog posts. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and most of the photos are from a cell phone or small camera while hiking the Appalachian Trail or the C&O Canal/Great Allegheny Passage Trail.
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