"For the first showings of the morning light
and the emerging outline of the day
thanks be to you, O God.
For earth’s colours drawn forth by the sun
its brilliance piercing clouds of darkness
and shimmering through leaves and flowing waters
thanks be to you.
Show to me this day
amidst life’s dark streaks of wrong and suffering
the light that endures in every person.
Dispel the confusions that cling close to my soul
that I may see with eyes washed by your grace
that I may see myself and all people
with eyes cleansed by the freshness of the new day’s light."
                   ~J. Philip Newell

My mother’s words echo sometimes in the back of my mind. "If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all." When the words are so ready to trip off my tongue…… a snide comment, a raw jab, a pious thought, a vicious insult, sometimes, sometimes, her voice stops me from speaking. And I am thankful for that voice that acts as my conscience and my silencer.

It is easy to add to the world’s "dark streaks of wrong and suffering" with words that hurt. Words often spoken in passion for a cause or words aimed to show the world where we stand on a particular topic can add to the mix of already present negative sentiment that abounds. Speaking with malice or self-righteousness only adds to a swirling dark cesspool that rarely, if ever, has any commitment to the common good. Words flung at another to degrade, demean or demoralize fail to recognize the "light that endures in every person." Every person. Not just those who believe the way I do, act as I do, live as I do.

I am saying this words, writing these words, for myself as much as for any reader. In the days past, in the present days, and in those to come, words are going to fly fast and furious as our country heads toward a national election. Truths and untruths will walk side by side, hand in hand. It will become increasingly more difficult to see what the original inspiration of those vying for office ever was.It will become increasingly more difficult to see their enduring light.

And so in the midst of it all, may our confusions be dispelled, may our eyes be washed with grace, and may we hold gently to the enduring light that rests within as we seek after the good for all the people. All the people.