The light of the spirit

November 11, 2012

This past week I have had the honor of assisting my sister, Lynda, as she began preparations to move into her new “digs”. She has struggled with physical and mental circumstances most of her life. This segment of her life is no exception. She is battling the physical demons we, as mortals, find ourselves facing as physical evidences of aches and pains turn to ravaging angst, with pain levels experienced only by those with diagnosed medical conditions such as cancer, or heart failure. Such was the case as we went about taking care of her wonderful pup, “Tiny”, getting prescriptions, taking care of insurance claims, checking out the construction on her new place, purchasing furniture, etc.

During our discussions she lamented the lack of interaction with her children. My advice to her was to communicate with them. She insisted she had made many attempts, even “begging” for their forgiveness; however, when I nudged a bit and suggested that she needed to be a listener as well, the conversation turned south and completely ineffective. Recently Lynda wrote and published a book and the cover has five pictures of her, all with very prominent display of her eyes. After seeing her book, I shared a scripture, Matthew 6:22; “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, they whole body shall be full of light.” Some call it aura, some call it the Spirit of Christ; others just say that some people make them happy. Whatever you may choose to call this light, it is good. It makes people around you feel good, and it extends out beyond your person and radiates feelings of goodness, kindness, and pure joy. If for whatever reason, your light is dim, or completely extinguished, people sense it and turn away from you.

In my observations the central theme in those whose light has been extinguished is personal doubts. Many years ago a beautiful octogenarian lady with a computer for a mind would extinguish the flames of friendship and family because she didn’t feel she was given sufficient opportunity to bless others with her knowledge and spirituality. Another, a gentleman of significant wealth and mortal fame, led thousands into the darkness because of his personal doubts regarding the role he felt necessary for him to show the world how important he really was. As I think a back on my life, I can see hundreds of times where I could have been more complimentary; less combative; more understanding; more forgiving.

Recently, I was on my way to a church meeting when another car came swooping around me, honked his horn, and vanished into the scenery. The urge to create an incident and spawn another news story about someone mashing another car by ramming came quickly to mind; however, now that I am a grown-up and somewhat over myself, I realized that that was pure folly, so instead I waved wildly, smiled and went on. Certainly not what I would have done in the past (probably not even yesterday) but I am trying.

The moral of this story is that we are our own worst enemy. In attempting to make ourselves look good, appear highly intelligent, or have the inside scoop on others challenges and solutions, we often overstep, and create just the opposite perspective. If, for example, we agree on work to be done, questions to be answered, or solutions to the mysteries of the universe; only to find those agreements have huge holes in them and one’s perspective of outcomes is radically (or even slightly) divergent from those others may have; we become entrenched in our belief we are absolutely correct; thus, cutting off meaningful communication and association. In other words, just because we think something has a label, doesn’t mean we necessarily need to make the case. I can’t help but think back sixty years, or so ago, about an incident with my brother, Glenn. Mother would tell this with horror, and perhaps a little humor. We had just moved from the tiny microcosm of Concho to the big city of Mesa, Arizona. Glenn was in Jr. High School and came upon an item to be labeled that he simply couldn’t resist. He went up to this eight foot high pile of fertilizer – horse manure – and began labeling. Sh--. He would have gotten away with this community blessing; however, the label wasn’t quite tall enough, so he went back to the pile of stuff, erased his former art work, and labeled it again; this time in foot high letters just as the principal Mr. Hightower came out of his office and the fight was over. Busted.

May we all endeavor to radiate the spirit of Christ through our everyday activities? May we look for the light in other’s eye? May we avoid looking for others may have and watch for ways to bless the lives of those around us?

God bless you as you strive to find peace and joy in service to your fellow earthling.

Duane Jacobs, pops, grandpops, uncle, cousin, brother, and fond friend