Good Morning God: True Light

I noticed the amber of a streetlight one morning and it gave me an idea of how often we are attracted to artificial things to offer us contentment. The light was almost as bright as the morning sun but not as intense as to affect the eyes-we often chase after what we think will make us happy and too often it ends up being a street light instead of the sun.

Some of the light posts we chase are material things, food that would give us pleasure, places, people that would cure our loneliness but nothing fills us up like the true light. It can be uncomfortable, awkward and exhausting but we must always follow what is true and lasting versus the transient quick fix.

I constantly struggle to keep my eyes and mind on the right path. There are so many distractions that keep us disconnected from God and I believe our souls need his connection to live in this world. Without the perspective of something greater than ourselves it is easy to find hopelessness instead of the joy we seek.

Too much light blinds us

And we can’t connect with each other

Too little and we wander lost 

Among each other

Anything we do becomes easier with consistency. Our faith is much like the muscles that atrophy when we are inactive. When we are active, the temptation and distractions become even stronger, we are at a constant war with evil as we can see every morning on the news.

Another aspect of my struggle is to speak of faith without being preachy, this is where organized religion often fails us. This post is meant to be a snapshot of one artist, writer, photographer finding his faith, losing it and finding it again.

So I walk the same path, as if it were Jericho, I walk the dog and try to find peace and calm before the day starts. This week the heat began a bit early, it was often difficult to concentrate, starting a prayer and starting it again.

I am a work in progress and as my walk grows and I find a routine I can sustain, I have days that I find myself filled with joy and others where it’s difficult to get off the couch. The important thing is to keep getting up, keep forcing ourselves to be better, to find joy in the simple things even if it’s just walking the dog in the morning.