Scripture
If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
1 John 1:7 NRSV
Spiritual Focus
“When you look at electrical things you can see that they are made of small and big wires, cheap and expensive all lined up. Until the current runs through them there will be no light. Those wires are you and me and the current is God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us and produce the light of the world or we can refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread.” Mother Teresa
Devotion
It was a gloomy, rainy winter afternoon. I climbed the stairs to the yoga studio and sank with a rather lackluster demeanor onto my mat. The whole class seemed to be in a funk, and the teacher, reading the energy level in the room, said, “Just because you can’t see the sunshine, don’t be fooled; you know that the sun is there. The light of the sun cannot be overcome by the darkness of the rain.” Sound familiar? Recall the verse just prior to this week’s Scripture quotation: “The life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:4–5).
The theme of light and darkness is one in which we rest this time of year—and how appropriate. Just a short time ago during the shortest day of the year, with the least amount of daylight, we celebrated in darkness the birth of the Light, Jesus, God in human form. The darkness of this world cannot extinguish this Light. That is Good News for us, as there may be times when, try as we may, we can’t distinguish the Son through the murky atmosphere. What a gift it is that our relationship with God is independent of our ability to see the light. In fact, our faith teaches that, through grace, the Light already resides within each of us. When we practice our faith, regardless of those at times deceptive outward circumstances, the Light in us grows and reflects on those around us.
On and off of the mat . . . be Light.
Breath Prayer
Inhale I Am
Exhale Light
Focus Pose: Incorporate an extra side stretch into your practice this week, and bring your attention to the contrasting movement of elongation on one side of the rib cage against the contraction of the opposite side. Reverse Warrior Pose, viparita virabhadrasana, is a favorite side stretch used in many vinyasa sequences. Begin in Warrior II, turn your front hand palm upward, and drop your back hand to your leg. With breath, lift your front arm to the heavens, enjoying a side bend toward the back of the mat. Breathe into your torso God’s white, healing light, and experience openness above constriction—lightness above darkness. Lift and be light.
