A Story of dark and light

     My brother and I use to spend lots of time in the car traveling with our parents.  They thought nothing of traveling hundreds of miles for the two weeks of vacation each summer.  We'd drive from Kansas to Utah, from Denver to Texas, from Louisiana to Kansas.  So many relatives to see and so many stories to share.  Sometimes the stories emerged from the traveling itself - like the time we visited New Orleans in the mid-1950's.  My brother and I were jumping up and down on the bed (one of the few times we were at a motel instead of staying with relatives or friends) and I managed to crack my head on the foot board.  I remember my dad carrying me to the car to head to the hospital while mom stayed with John.  I also remember sitting at the hospital listening to my dad and the doctor talk away as he stitched my head.  The whole time I was thinking, "Why doesn't this hurt?"  Guess I was oblivious when the pain-killer was injected.  I'm pretty sure there was lots of crying and chaos before the calm memory of the stitches.  A new family story emerged.
    Last Tuesday I returned from a 9-day journey to Morgan City LA for my high school reunion.  It was a great road trip.  One of the short stories that is staying with me is my visit with our youngest daughter's college roommate at the Atlanta Aquarium.  I hadn't called Emmy in advance as I wasn't certain I'd have time to get there.   I was staying over with a friend north of Atlanta and after a certain time I WAS NOT going to mess with Atlanta traffic.  But I realized mid-day that I could get there by 2PM so I called Emmy and made arrangements to see her.
    She was busy with a dolphin show when I arrived so I got to visit quite a bit of the aquarium.  It's amazing!  Emmy later told me that she's worked there for 8 years and I noticed that she didn't stop smiling when talking about her work at the aquarium.  I can see why.  It is truly a place of wonder.  I stopped and watch jellyfish glowing - looking like works of art as they softly floated along.  I got to see sea otter and dolphins, a huge variety of fish in so many colors, sting rays, sharks and beluga whales.
   She took me to see the area where they have the beluga whales.  I had seen them earlier from below the water, but now we traveled to the employee area where Emmy's co-workers feed the whales and monitor them.   What struck me immediately was how dark the water looked.  I had seen the whales from below and the water was illuminated with light making it easy to make out not only the whales, but all of the sea creatures.  From the top however, the water was dark.  I mentioned this and she pointed up to the large sky light above the water - light was pouring in - yet the water looked dark.  It was only as the whales approached the surface that I saw the white of them
finally reflecting the light.
    As I left the aquarium and drove to my friend's home I thought about this, about the light, and about the dark.  The next day in the quiet of the car I continued my pondering.  How interesting that the water appeared dark, but because I could see it from below - from deep in the water thanks to the aquarium's clear-walled tanks - I knew the sunshine from the sky light was filling the water with light.
   So I wondered, is that how we human beings are?  Are we filled with light even when we are at our darkest?  If I truly believe that God's light fills each and every one, perhaps this is how it looks.  Perhaps it is like the light in the ocean, God's light fills us, but it does not always remove the darkness.  On the surface we may feel darkness, we may show darkness through our fears, our weaknesses, our temptations, our illnesses, our prejudices, our judgements, our disappointments.  God's love fills us with light in spite of the darkness.  On the surface we may see the darkness of others, but God's love fills them with light.
    Every time I passed by a TV last week the George Zimmerman trial seemed to be on.  The prosecution is trying to show the darkness of George Zimmerman, yet  doesn't he too have the light deep within him.  The defense is trying to show the darkness of Treyvon Martin, yet he too had God's light deep within him.  What a different world we would live in if we took the time to go deeper than just a glance at the darkness at the top of the water.  What brilliant color and fascinating parts of lives we would find if we truly believed that God's light is shining within every one of us, whether or not we feel it, and whether or not we see it in others.
   I'm trying to pay more attention to how I respond to others I meet, see, walk by...  I'm trying to keep in my mind the wonderful image of light pouring through the aquarium water - making it possible to see the beauty beneath the dark surface.  May God's light in you shine so fully that you have to acknowledge it; and may you find the glow of God's light in each person you meet.