This came to me this morning, while I was journaling, and it resonated so much that I immediately wanted to share it with you. All it really requires is a willingness to go along on a little imaginary journey…
Imagine yourself as a lighthouse. The stormy seas surrounding the little spit of hard, rocky ground upon which you stand are life circumstances, things you cannot control. Beyond the frayed edges of that storm are ships, with your name on the manifest. They carry your dreams.
Now, if you are like me, you have been trying to swim out to those ships, and tow them in by taking their lines in your teeth. You have sailed, sometimes, in leaky dinghies, and you’ve taken a real battering and swallowed a lot of seawater. Because you abandoned your post in the lighthouse, some of those ships have even crashed into the rocks and spilled broken treasures along the shoreline of your life. Chances are, you’ve spent a lot of time scavenging, searching for things you can save. Maybe you believe the ships have sailed by, and dropped anchor in someone else’s port. Maybe you’ve even been afraid they were pirate ships, and deliberately doused your light, so they wouldn’t find you. (Very foolish, grasshopper. Pirate ships are not attracted to light. They operate best in darkness. Therefore, by shutting down the light, you drew them to you. What an irony, but there it is.)
Listen up. Go back to the lighthouse. Climb the stairs, and attend to the light. The ships will sail in on their own, when they can track the beam of light to guide them.
What is the Light? It is that truest place inside you, where the physical and nonphysical worlds connect. You know it’s there–you’ve probably happened upon it in rare moments.
Your mind is NOT the light, it is the transmitter of the light.
I hear you. Wonderful allegory, you’re saying, but how do I apply it? I don’t know how to run a lighthouse.
For me, it’s mainly about prayer. Staying home in my own mind, keeping the light burning. No more dives into the drink. No more leaky dinghies. It’s about trusting that those ships are out there, that they belong to me, and that they will come in, under their own power, if I just “man” the lighthouse.
Think about it.
Ask for guidance. There’s a Master Lighthouse Keeper waiting to help.
There’s a reason why lighthouses are symbols of safety in a storm.
In the meantime, Courage.
