"Reverend Otis Moss (senior pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago) tells a story about a time when he and his church were under attack, some years ago. They were receiving dozens of death threats every week, “We’re going to kill you.” “We’re going to bomb your church.” At the time, he was a new preacher and a young father. The situation was dire.
One night he was awakened by a noise in his house and he trepidatiously got up to see what was going on. He peeked into his daughter’s room, and he describes: “There was my daughter Makayla dancing in the darkness—just spinning around, saying, ‘Look at me, Daddy.’ I said, ‘Makayla, you need to go to bed. It is 3 am. You need to go to bed.’ But she said, ‘No, look at me, Daddy. Look at me.’And she was spinning, barrettes going back and forth, pigtails going back and forth.
I was getting huffy and puffy wanting her to go to bed, but then God spoke to me. ‘Look at your daughter! She’s dancing in the dark. The darkness is all around her but it is not in her!’
Makayla reminded me that weeping may endure for a night, but if you dance long enough joy will come in the morning. It is the job of preachers, to send this word to us in the hardest of times: do not let the darkness find its way to you.”
~Rabbi Sharon Brous
All people have been created in the image of God. – Genesis 1:27
We each carry within us a unique spark of the Divine. I ofen feel that God's speaks to me through the voice of others. In this case a beautiful young girl, awakened her father to the presence of Light, of Hope and Love within her, within all of us.
A Lamp for the Way
The gift of our life expereinces
reflected upon...
prayed into our flesh and being
becomes our lamp for the way.
-From "A Time To Listen" Author Unknown
Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Manala by ~liz
