Circle of Light…

In preparation for our evening with author Jan Richardson, I reviewed the pages in her book Sparrow that inspired the theme of the program: “Light of Day.”

Sparrow intimately conveys Jan’s grieving and slow healing process after the sudden death of her husband, musician Garrison Doles, in 2013. In the middle of the book, Jan describes the opening to light a simple question gave her.

She wondered what it might be like to meet Garrison’s spirit in “a place that’s not so defined by grief, a place where sorrow is not my dominant emotion and my primary way of moving through the world.” Attentive to what was unfolding within, Jan realized this question and the possibility it opened within her was like a tiny circle of light ever so slowly growing bigger.

As the skies darken earlier and longer in the northern hemisphere, this invitation to imagine a circle of light expanding to encompass us is so comforting. What would open up a circle of light for you right now? Is it an awareness that “this too shall pass”? Or does spending time with those you love do it? For me, our Gala last week was like a circle of light, inspiring me in unexpected and treasured ways.

Light Within

“Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.”
―Maya Angelou

The Stars

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.”
― Og Mandino

A Blessing for Traveling in the Dark

By Jan Richardson

Go slow
if you can.
Slower.
More slowly still.
Friendly dark
or fearsome,
this is no place
to break your neck
by rushing,
by running,
by crashing into
what you cannot see.

Then again,
it is true:
different darks
have different tasks,
and if you
have arrived here unawares,
if you have come
in peril
or in pain,
this might be no place
you should dawdle.

I do not know
what these shadows
ask of you,
what they might hold
that means you good
or ill.
It is not for me
to reckon
whether you should linger
or you should leave.

But this is what
I can ask for you:

That in the darkness
there be a blessing.
That in the shadows
there be a welcome.
That in the night
you be encompassed
by the Love that knows
your name.

© Jan Richardson, featured in Circle of Grace. janrichardson.com