©iStockphoto.com/Anna Bakulina
I stood on the balcony of Weir Hall, as crisp morning air filled my lungs. Orion--the constellation that captured the imagination of my youth--stood beneath the moon in the unhurriedly brightening sky.
I was witnessing daybreak...
The words penned by Marcus Aurelius provoked a moment of cogitation:
"The Pythagoreans say this: at dawn, behold the starry heavens, so that we may remind ourselves of those beings that are always in accord with each other and always performing their function; and also so that we remember their order, purity, and nakedness, for a star needs no veil."
... The moon and the glittering constellations yet retained their visibilities as the pinkening, eastern horizon had not yet revealed the sun.
Darkness, though receding, had not fled.
Yet, the distant and soft chirping of birds signaled that surrounding Nature was indeed aware of the coming occasion.
"Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark," wrote the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.
The words of a song, as I remembered it, yet lingered from my morning commute to the balcony where I stood:
"Know that your trial is in God’s hands.
The sun shall shine again.
Weeping may endure for a night.
But joy comes in the morning light."
The paradox of darkness and light, coexisting in the transitionary moment of dawn, mesmerized me as I was transfixed by the heavenly display.
The lesser lights of the constellations decreased as the greater light of our nearest star increased.
Reflecting on the sun's luminosity, I again recalled the words of the Pythagoreans:
"...for a star needs no veil."
Unveiled, the sun bestows its gift to the earth.
...I further considered the words of Jesus Christ: "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
Secondarily, Marianne Williamson, whose words are of contemporary renown, wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. ...We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
And God's love is light.
I turned to leave the balcony, chilled by gusts of the invigorating morning air as I absorbed a final view. The words of the Apostle John emerged within me: "the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining." Though darkness once lingered, the sun was now standing tall above the horizon--just as I expected...
