The Power of Light
We were on our way to climb Mount Sinai. We had arrived at the end of the first of a three day trip to reach the mountain. I was keeping watch.
We had been advised to keep a watch. The nomads of Sinai were known to take what they need. Sometimes they were known to take what you need.
To defend our camp, I was armed-with a flashlight.
At the moment, I didn't need it. All was quiet. It was a night to enjoy, a chance to think, to reflect upon the importance of this place in history.
After a time, however, I began to become conscious of a sound coming from the darkness of the desert night. It was a rustling. It came all at once; it stopped; and then it came again.
I was only beginning to pin down the precise direction from which it was coming when suddenly I began to hear more rustling coming from another direction. I was only beginning to zero in on this second source of sound when suddenly more sounds started coming from a third direction. Apparently we were being invaded.
I had to do something. And there was only one thing to do. I waited for the next telling sound, took aim with my flashlight, and fired. There was a man crawling toward our camp. But, the moment the light hit him, he fled. Not following his flight, I now fired in the direction of the second source of sound. Once again I had caught a nomad. Once again the invader fled. Two down, one to go. I fired once more, caught a nomad, and this one I watched run.
How powerful I felt. And how powerful, I thought, is light.
I should not have been surprised. After all, the power of light, of truth, is what our faith is all about. Faith is knowledge that changes the lives of those who possess it.
To believe in heaven frees us from the dread of death, or the need to keep ourselves distracted-never really living-because we cannot face the facts of life.
To believe in heaven frees us from anguish at the death of those we love. Though we may miss them, we know that they have gone to God and are more alive than we are. We also know that one day we will be reunited with them. Knowing that we are not going to lose them we feel freer to love them while they are here.
To believe in heaven lets us dream. Though all of us have our dreams, the day comes when most people have to admit, if only to themselves, that their dreams are not going to come true. This never happens to people of faith. We know that our dreams are going to come true, the only place they ever could.
Knowing that we were made for divine life, we understand that we were made to want divine life. Presumably, we also understand that no worldly thing could ever fill us. This is the reason that to get one thing is to want another. Therefore, though we can and we should work to make our lives and our world better, we need not suffer over any one thing we do not yet have. We need not anguish over any one problem we have not yet solved. We need not suffer envy.
Not seeking more from things than they can give, we can enjoy the things we do have. Our house does not have to be a heavenly mansion. Our house is not in heaven. But, if we find love there, it can still be a home. The people in our lives do not need to be perfect. No one is perfect. Nonetheless, if the people in our lives are trying, they can still be our companions.
To believe in heaven gives us joy. At the very least, it gives us hope.
To believe in love gives us purpose. We know why we are here. We know what we should do. We know that what we do will make an eternal difference.
If we believe that we are here to grow in love, we love. We are free-free from the fear that we are giving more than others-to live the only kind of life that could ever satisfy us. God would not have made us so that we could ever be happy doing what is wrong. Rather He made us so that we can be happy only when we are doing what is right. This is the reason that if we live selfishly we are never satisfied, no matter how much we have, whereas if we live a life of love we are always satisfied, no matter how little we have.
If to grow in faith and love is our goal, we gain control over our lives. We are always in a position to do what we want most of all. This is not true if fame or fortune is our goal. If something worldly is our goal, we have to hope that the world will cooperate. (Probably it will not.) If, instead, to grow in faith and love is our goal, we can always do what we want, no matter what the world may do. If something goes wrong, we can accept it, and thus our faith will grow. If people offend or disappoint us, we can forgive them, and thus our love will grow.
If we believe in God's plan, we have the best possible reason to accept ourselves for who we are. After all, God's plan for everything is also His plan for each of us. Yes, our life is a struggle, but it is a special struggle that God has given us to form each of us into a special person who will have a place in heaven no one else can fill. Understanding this, we can forgive ourselves for what we cannot yet do or have done and cannot change. No longer do we compare ourselves to others. Indeed, once we recognize that God has put all His love into our making, we can love ourselves for who He made us. This makes possible the sincere love of others.
To believe in God's plan allows us to accept whatever has happened and cannot be changed. We may not yet know why something hard has happened, but we can know that it needed to happen, for the best possible reason. Likewise, to believe in God's plan allows us to accept whatever is happening now and cannot yet be changed.
Since we know that everything that is going to happen-once it has happened and cannot be changed-will also follow God's plan, we can live our lives without fear. If we know that a year from now we are going to be where God wants us to be, what's to fear? If we think the same about our family and friends, we can live without the impossible burden of thinking that everything depends on us. Everything does not depend on us. Everything depends on God. Our job is to do our best, the best we can right now. The rest is up to God and His plan.
To believe in God's plan gives us peace.