Observation: I notice that the first verse is God's command to Israel, "Arise, Shine!" But the command comes with an announcement: "for your light has come". The light of the people is not their own possession. It comes from God. They don't make it or manufacture comesit. It comes to them. All the other predictions of glory--all nations gathering and paying tribute, coming to Israel to escape deep darkness, the younger generation being gathered back in--depend on God's light coming to Israel. They can't make that situation happen. It just does.
Application: When I hear "Arise, Shine!" on this day of Epiphany, which happens to also be the first day of 2020 in which I rolled out of bed to take my kids to the bus stop, it makes me smile.
The stars shone bright this morning as I drove my daughter past our normal bus stop, on a wild goose chase to track down her bus. "Arise, shine" indeed... maybe ten minutes earlier tomorrow.
That's why I need to be reminded, on the day the decorations come down, the tree goes out into the cold, and for me and many others, there's a sadness and a vulnerability to seasonal depression: I don't have to make the light. I don't have to conjure it up, as if I ever could. The light has come. God's love has come to live with us, and it isn't going anywhere.
Prayer: God, help me to arise, and feel the light of your live, and reflect it as best I can today. Amen.
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