While I sat in bed doing my best to read Isaiah on Tuesday morning, the sunrise slowly slid over me, lighting my scriptures, then my face until I was nearly blinded by the light. It was a beautiful symbolic moment, and possibly the most I've ever gotten out of Isaiah ever (outside of Handel's Messiah).
"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." (Isaiah 9:2)
Normally when I read scriptures I do my best to shut out all physical distractions mostly in the form of kids, but also phone, noises, errant thoughts, etc. But every single THING--noise, person, sight, scent, etc.--present during my scripture study has the potential to teach me. I just have to be aware and not get too fed up with the so-called distractions to learn from them. I could probably write a book about all of the symbolism bursting from that ten minutes of scripture sunrise, but I settled for a nice long list.
An abridged Light List inspired by my scripture sunrise:
- The light wasn't coming from the scriptures but I needed light to read them.
- With a small simple motion, I could scoot further into the light or move out of it into the shadows.
- This was an interesting multi-sense learning moment: physical light inspiring spiritual light.
Along with my study of light this week, I found myself feeling especially thankful for friendship. Both light and friends have similar roles: they both shine, bring happiness, and help us see clearly. It feels vital to reach out and support each other. Share the load! Shine the light! See and be seen. Joke and laugh! Be there for each other. Listen. Good friends are beautiful bright lights.
On Friday I spent time with five different sets of friends in five different settings:
- Chatting at the park while our kids played
- Video messaging on Marco Polo
- Talking on the phone
- Text messaging
- Meeting in the home of another friend at a book club reunion with five of our dear old friends, two of whom video-called in from out of town.
You've got this!
I'm right there with you!
You are enough!
Good friends give me treasures of beautiful light to carry in my heart.
Book club reunion Friday night, complete with a double FaceTime video call for the out-of-town-ers. We met monthly for close to five years before the core regulars moved away. For our reunion, we met for the first time in nearly 3 years: I drove 30 minutes to Prosser from Sunnyside, Britni drove 40 minutes from Richland, and our two face-timers called in from Utah. We felt quite proud of ourselves for coordinating this evening acrooss 2 states and 5 towns! It felt so normal and home-y and good to be together again, and we stayed up way too late talking and laughing. Moms gone wild, out after 11pm!
I always like the silly pictures best.
Now that I have extolled the value and virtue of friendship and friend-time, here are pictures from my solo run in Cowiche Canyon on Monday (Feb 17th/President's Day/no school). Because I usually only remember to take pictures when I'm alone, haha. The sun was so warm and the sky was so blue that the brown February non-foliage seemed anachronistic. Brown, brown, red, and more brown were the colors of the day. Cowiche Canyon is such a cute little 3 mile long dimple in the brown hills outside Yakima.
I love those slender white tree trunks. (Aspens, I believe)
It was weird passing the kids' favorite climbing area and not stopping for an hour, haha.
The Lone Pine
At the far end, ready to turn around.
These red branches were so pretty!
Dramatic canyon lighting and dramatic signage just go together.
On my way back through the canyon towards the car, I took a side trip up the canyon-side for a brief view.
Self-timer photography is not perfect, haha. (above and below)
Basalt
Hello again, my pretty aspen friends.
1 comment:
Your thoughts on Light were ..... enlightening!
And — I recognized so many of the points along the trail in your photos! Good memories of the time we hiked it together (with kids)!
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