The light within
Fishing boats at dawn in Porthleven harbour
How might you intentionally shine with the light of loving-kindness?
It is sunrise in Porthleven harbour and at first glance it looks as though these three small fishing boats have electric lights illuminating their cabins with a warm and inviting glow. The truth is more enchanting still: as the sun rises above the horizon its rays briefly and wonderfully reflect in the glass, as though deliberately picking out the cabins for our attention. In this all too fleeting interlude one’s perception is held and beguiled by the artistry of the light. Then the moment is gone.
As is always the case in photography the light is everything. What looks mundane in the full sun of midday becomes magical at daybreak, as the enveloping darkness is dispelled by the dawn. In the two photographs the boat is the same one, but the atmosphere and mood are radically dissimilar.
It seems to me that everyday life is no different. Most of the time we see nothing exceptional, nothing to grab our attention and hold it in a moment of wonderment. In truth our perception is dulled, our expectation is minimal. And then the light of loving-kindness catches in someone’s smile, words or actions and the scene changes in an instant. It is as though in that moment we become present to a deeper truth which heightens our awareness and commands our attention. Meaning is in the making and we sense it. We are drawn to it. We need it.
To assert that God is love is to commit oneself to looking for that magical light and cherishing those moments when its presence is manifest and beautiful. It is to chase the light of loving-kindness, to seek it and search for it where it is most likely to be found, and being present to the one who is revealed in it and through it. There is intentionality and purpose here. Just as the period around sunrise and sunset draws photographers who crave the special beauty of the light, and for whom the extra effort required is well worthwhile, so too are people of faith drawn to those contexts in which the interplay of darkness and light is most profound. Where the struggle is hard, the agony intense, the hope fragile and help elusive, that is where we should look for the light of God’s loving kindness.
And in those times and places what others most need to see is the light of loving-kindness unmistakably and unambiguously reflecting in our eyes, words and actions, revealing the presence of the one in whom we are enlightened and through whom we become radiant.
