Light (a poem)

When the sun comes out in Ireland, the people come out, too. We appreciate the sun, because we never know how long we’ll get to see it. We soak it in as much as possible—the brightness, the warmth, the Vitamin D, the light. I’ve heard that the physics of light are complicated, that it’s simultaneously a wave and a physical particle, which is confusing. But just think of all the things it does: it illuminates the world and makes our eyes work, for starters, but that’s only the beginning. It also carries heat from the sun 150 million kilometres away to warm our world and kiss our skin. Light also helps our bodies create Vitamin D, and even more impressively it helps plants all over the world photosynthesise the energy they need to grow. In other words, without light, we wouldn’t merely be blind—our whole world would be a wasteland.

When God said, “Let there be light”, he meant to provide exactly what our world needed to thrive and grow with beauty and joy and abundant life. And when Jesus said, “I am the light of the world”, he meant to show us that provision and life ultimately come through him. That’s what I was thinking about when I wrote this poem:

Light

They say light is a particle
They say it is a wave
It reaches out and
Makes our world
A garden, not a grave

And light is all my eyes can see
Yet it reveals the world to me
It fills me up
It touches skin
It shows me where and what I am

This particle is power—
It’s waves unfold the flowers
It grows the trees
Invisibly
Through many passing hours

Though I don’t have the gift to shine
I can receive light, make it mine
And what a gift!
And what a Giver!
You, Yourself, are Light Divine

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” – John 8:12