Further Up and Further In

Written for Church of the Resurrection's Advent exhibit 2025 You carry your own light When you walk into the darkness The glow softly irradiates to create An incandescent circle around you That is all you are responsible for You can’t reach the totality of the darkness You aren’t created to Join the multitude of warmth and brightness Add your beam to multiply and shine You are part of the throng Raise your illumination high Watch it sparkle and dance with its companions See where your light goes and follow it  For as we know Light is the burden Light is the calling Light is the hope Therefore Stay luminous

I fully admit that I am a black and white kind of person. Someone who functions well with cause and effect and who is deeply justice-oriented in all things. Which in my mind means that x + y = z every time. If a = b x c, then it does. As much as I don't like math, numbers will turn out the same result every time. You can mess with the numbers all you want but they will not come out differently than their inherent value within the equation. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work that way with people. There are thousands of variations, possibilities, and unforeseen circumstances, much of it human and some of it divine. So what happens when x + y doesn't equal z? What about when you end up with a different answer and now you don't know how to react or what to do or say?  In the last few years, I have struggled with doing the right thing but not getting the desired results. I did what I know and believe is the right thing. Why didn't the other person say 'sorry, that was w...