Did you know that the soap opera The Guiding Light is listed in the Guinness Book of World’s Records as the longest running scripted drama in TV AND Radio history? Beginning as a radio show in 1937, it transitioned to Television in 1952 and will continue at least through September 2009 which will put it into its 72nd year! Now that’s pretty amazing. Useless perhaps, but amazing nonetheless.
Light has always been both a metaphoric and an actual guide. We often seek the “light at the end of the tunnel.” For millennia, sailors have used the stars to guide them to faraway places and back home again. The North Star has led many lost hikers home.
And no matter how far we travel from our physical home, we are all travelers on a journey of discovery through this life. And just as travelers on the road or over the seas require guidance, we need guidance for our travels through life. We need a light to show us the way.
It is easy to take the light for granted when it is all around us. During the day, in the heat of the summer, when light surrounds us, we often dismiss beauty and power of the sun. In fact, I often hear people cursing the sun and its heat.
But when the dark comes, when night falls, and when the cold darkness of winter descends upon our world, we seek the light, we crave the warmth of the sun and we yearn for the guidance that the light offers.
We have just moved through the deepest darkness, the longest night. This is such a rich, fertile time: A time of healing and integration, a time of introspection and gestation, a time to restore and renew our bodies, minds and spirits.
At this time of year we celebrate the light - even as we honor the power of the darkness. Throughout human history, many cultures have celebrated the coming of the light of bringing light into this deep darkness. Chanukah is the festival of light. The Winter Solstice celebrates the returning of the light. Persian, Native American, Celtic, Germanic, Japanese, Chinese, and many other cultures have festivals and celebrations recognizing the return of the sun.
And on Thursday we celebrated the birth of a great master and the awakening of a brilliant light in the world.
Whatever you believe about Jesus and whatever faith you follow, his life, like those of all the great masters, is filled with many lessons for all of us. His life provides us with an example of what is possible. He is a light in our sky, a light that can guide us home.
And just as there are many stars in the night sky to guide sailors home, there are many masters in our past, many lights in the “sky” of our human history: Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, St Francis, Gandhi, Black Elk, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama and many more who have lived and some who live now upon this planet… and they all can help us find our way home. They can guide us back to our Source.
Because, no matter what philosophy these masters taught, no matter where they lived, no matter how altered their teachings have become over the course of the years, each of them had this in common: They lived in alignment with the light of guidance.
We are all connected to that guidance, that light. But most of us ignore it, deny it, block it, resist it, and push it away. The masters of this world have all embraced that light. They have surrendered to that light. And, ultimately, they have embraced that light, becoming one with it. And in that state of surrender and oneness, they no longer needed to look to the skies for guidance. They no longer needed to look outside of themselves for answers or directions. They became the light. They were the guidance.
And what they did, you can do also. They were special, yes. They were gifted. Yes. They were blessed. Yes.
But so are you!
And what they achieved, you can too!
We all can learn from their examples. We can grow and become better by following them. Not blindly, or without thought. But with intention: The intention to become better, to become more fully awakened to our beauty and to our greatness!
As we walk in their footsteps and follow their light, our light shines more brightly in the world. And as our light shines, we become a beacon for others!
We all need guidance. We all need support in our journey of growth and evolution. And when we actively seek that guidance, we automatically offer that guidance to others.
How were the Wise Men led to Jesus? How did they know that a great master was born?
It was a light in the sky. They followed that light. But why were there only three of them? Why did not more people see that light and follow it? Was it an actual light in the sky? Or was that a metaphor for an inner light, an inner knowing that led these three wise men to the place of his birth?
We’ll never know. And it really doesn’t matter. But what is important is to recognize that we all can see that light. Just as those wise men saw the light, just as the great masters have embraced and ultimately become that light, you have that same light guiding you.
We are all connected to that guidance but sometimes we forget that connection. Sometimes we see that light but deny it. Sometimes we hear that guidance but attempt to outsmart it thinking that we know a better way, a faster way, a more efficient way.
We don’t!
I know I don’t! And believe me I have tried to outsmart that guidance many times! It has never worked.
Now, as we sit in this time of darkness but feel the movement into the light, we have the opportunity to say yes to that guidance.
A New Year is coming. The days are growing longer. And so, our attention returns to the outer world and to our place in the world.
This is a good time to decide what light you will follow in 2009.
What light will guide you on your journey into this New Year?
Will you be guided by the light of Love? Or will it be fear?
Will you surrender to the light of Source? Or will it be “I can do it on my own?”
Will you be led by the light of God? Or will it be good enough?
You have the choice.
I have made mine. I choose Love, Source, God as my light and my guidance in 2009.
Will you join me?
