Luminaries

There is a mansion on a hill in the small town I live in. During the Christmas Season the pathway that leads to the mansion is lit by luminaries. These luminaries are simple paper bags weighed down with sand. A candle placed inside the bag gives light and illumines the path.

When I awoke in the night my soul felt smothered. Oppressed by dark thoughts I blanketed myself and went outside. The moon light was so bright that it cast moon shadows. I stood staring up into the night sky. The light from the celestial bodies were luminaries. The darkness that had oppressed me was lifted.

"Sharpen my sight, Lord, so I can see the beauty inside of the people I know. Blind me to their faults and imperfections and let me see the good that You have put in them! Let me see the hurts that I might console and encourage. Please let this kind of sight grow sharper even as my physical sight diminishes." This is the prayer of a woman who became blind, however, in her blindness she became a luminary.

I have found the pathway that leads me to God lit with guiding lights. Sometimes the light in the night's sky is bright enough to cast moon shadows. Other times it is like the light of a candle in a simple paper bag weighed down with sand that shows me the way to go. The lights that lead me home all have the same source.

Father, thank you for the luminaries you have placed in my life. Please let Your light shine brightly in my life and may I become one who lights the path home for others.