Guide Us to Thy Perfect Light

I love this line of We Three Kings. We all want to be led to God’s most perfect light…don’t we?

The last few days, it’s been dark, gray, cold and wintery in my hometown. You could feel the grayness and bleakness in the air and people’s moods. It was anything but perfect light. Quite the opposite.

On this Feast of the Epiphany the sun decided to come out today, and it reminded me that we are a people that longs for perfect light. 

Perhaps that is what led the Magi to journey to Bethlehem as they followed the bright star guiding them, and perhaps it is what leads us to take the journey of faith in the first place.

What does that perfect light for you mean? Perhaps it's contentment with what you have. Perhaps it’s peace of mind or calm. Perhaps it's the deepest sense of joy and happiness you’ve been longing for. Perhaps it’s never leaving the presence of God and being forever enfolded in his presence. Perhaps it’s no work and all play. Perhaps its never-ending friendship and community.

For me, perfect light is the newborn light of morning as I wake from deep rest, and the feeling like I can rest there for as long as I like. It’s a calming sense that I can forever be at rest in the arms of God without the cares of home and responsibilities knocking at my door.  I’ve come to the conclusion that I basically long for eternal rest…and so I strive for it with prayer, praise, service, and living my vocations as faithfully as I can. Someday I hope!

We all have that vision of perfect light unique to us, and I think God gives that to us to stir us to hope for things that are eternal and to remind us that we are not meant to be here forever. We are made for perfect light with Him.

Our call: To seek and follow the journey that leads to perfect light like the Magi. May our song and prayer today be: Lord, guide us to thy perfect light.