Bright Lights

I once saw a girl who had a brilliant light shining around her, which followed her wherever she went. I was fascinated and attracted by this light, so I started to follow her.

After a little while, she turned around, looked me in the eye, and said “Why are you following me?”

“Well,” I answered, “you see, there’s this beautifully bright light that’s always shining on you, and I just want to get a better look. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”

“Really? Then I guess you never realized that you have the same kind of light shining on you.”

I looked down at myself hesitantly, and realized that she was right. I thanked her and turned around. What I saw then surprised me even more.

A crowd of people stood behind me, evidently having followed me around for much of the day. They were all staring at the light, the light that I now knew had been shining down on me all my life. What was odd, though, was that they all had the same kind of light on them—they just didn’t seem to know it.

So I walked toward them and began telling each one of them that the light was shining on them, too. And it was as I did this that I realized I had discovered my life’s purpose.

An Amateur's Allegory

Imagine for a moment that you have never seen a day. You’ve seen many nights, and have grown up and lived your life under that starred navy, but you’ve never been blinded by light—there just isn’t that much to go around. You were raised to stay in well-lit areas, and to look to light as a guide. Roads and neighborhood paths are lit by lamps, as are the rooms of a house. The light is what keeps you from falling over everything, including yourself.

What kind of life might be lived in these circumstances? You can probably imagine the consequences of avoiding the light: bruises, broken bones, perhaps even a premature death. It is hard, though, to understand the purpose of following the light. In this strange scenario we have imagined, in which the sun has somehow hidden itself from the eyes of man, one wonders: why follow the light at all? We’re doomed to a life of darkness no matter what, so why not throw caution to the wind, and go where we wish, doing what we want, come what may?

Well, allow us to add one more detail to this scenario which answers all of our questions. Suppose that it is possible, if one follows the light throughout the whole dark passage of life, to reach daylight. Can you imagine what it might feel like, after a lifetime of fumbling through the darkest nights in pursuit of faintest lights, to turn the corner one day and see the billowing shades of purple on the horizon? Can you imagine the glory of that first sunrise, as the real source and model of our light rises to a crowning height in the heavens? Here is a reality that you could never have guessed at, but have reached by placing trust in what was told to you: follow the lights! Here, you would realize as you covered your eyes with an eternal sort of satisfaction, is what every one of those lights in my life pointed to. This is that greater reality which I knew, since gazing upon the lights of my youth, existed somewhere, invisible yet present. Even when the lights of the night burned dim and threatened to fade away, I know now that He was watching, He was there, and even then He was guiding me to Him, to here, to now, to this perfect place, beyond anything I could have fathomed.

Indeed, one can find glimmers of truth in the simplest aspects of creation. Remember to follow those lights in your life.