On the Edge of God’s Shimmer

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post.

We are here to love the light out of each other. It’s not something we can plan or build, only ready ourselves for. My wife Susan is one who sees the light in my darkness. This is what relationship that endures can do. This reflection explores such grace.

On the Edge of God’s Shimmer

Lives unlike mine, you save me.

I would grow so tired were it not for you.

—Naomi Shihab Nye

I must confess that cancer ruined me for small talk. I seem drawn only to the core and bark of things. When younger, it came through like fire and scared off others. But with the years, it has thinned into light and others come. I am not alone in this. It’s how we learn to love each other. Our fires don’t lessen, but refine and transform over time into a light we can’t resist. I’ve grown in the light of so many. All of us suns that don’t know we’re shining.

Especially you. I am in awe of your heart and don’t know why God has granted me this special grace to live with you. For what you love comes to life, including me. My heart has been turned inside out sweetly, as when the moment of loving and being loved bursts open with all its surprises, coating the world with a strange and beautiful honey. I feel it as I write this.

As the fire we carry dies down, the light we’re left with spills over our darknesses. We stand in awe, on the edge of God’s shimmer in the smallest crack, till all that’s left is what’s essential. I feel the delicate web, certain that we knew this in the beginning.

A Question to Walk With: Describe someone who loves the light out of you. How does this happen and what does it feel like? If you haven’t, tell them of the power and gift of their love.