Light in a Grey World

Click here for link to an article about a new film: "Robin Garbose's musical, "A Light for Greytowers," adheres to Jewish law and upholds a life of modesty and self-discipline for women." (photo from JewishJournal.com) I am always encouraged by women who, though their faith in God may be different from what I believe to be True, stand firmer in their convictions than I ever have, even to the point of what many might think of as severe sacrifices.

My husband talks about his work in India, describing the very visible actions of Hindu and Muslim believers, as they go about very early morning and frequent daily prayers, and other numerous religious traditions. And I have trouble just getting out of bed in the morning.

I read articles (like this one in the Washington Post) about women who dress modestly, some who also cover their heads and/or hair in modesty and submission - and how they are looked down on, punished, laughed at, misjudged and scorned by people who can't understand why they dress modestly in the first place. Women - some of them young women - who other women of the West call silly, frumpy, foolish or simply old fashioned. Yet they take the punishment, the slander, and STILL dress according to their belief of what God expects of them. And I struggle to find what to wear on Sunday that "looks good". (photo from the USA Today article)

I know women who hold one Truth to be the only Truth who will not even look at a believer in anything else except to see heathen, infidels and idolaters. Well, I think they're all people, created in God's image, and I can't help but see them. Maybe they do believe in something false: their idea of God, or their interpretation of doctrine or teaching. But because there is a Truth which is True, their lives do reflect that True Faith, that True Love, that One Truth. I pray that we all keep our eyes open, and even if a sister or brother is in error in some way, we are able to see where they have some part of the Truth that we are missing. With me, that is most often the ability to stand firm in faith in the face of opposition, slander, violence and even - shudder - mocking derision.

You, Kind Reader and Weblog Poster, are a light in a grey world: a world where people see in black and white, and yet since the lines are different for everyone, it seems, everything goes grey and cloudy all around us. May you be able to see the black and white lines - may you keep searching for Truth. May you keep shining whatever little bit of Light that you think you have; you do not know who the Light reflecting in your own little candle may be warming.