The Spirit of Light

This meme came from a Facebook post of an atheist friend of mine.

Apologies for the swearword, but it emphasizes so well the ugliness of a heart so compelled to post something like this that I left it in. The words used to accompany the meme made it all the more striking, as you could sense the neediness behind them, a desperate plea for relevance.

As stated:

“Please stop fooling yourselves, and honestly consider a more reasonable truth. Demand evidence over fairy tales, because the magic of today is the science of tomorrow.  If the answer is unknown, I beg you to not do yourself a disservice and attribute it to some unsubstantiated spiritual dictator.

 For most of you, I will be preaching to the choir, but If this message happens to offend you? Now we are getting somewhere. THINK.”

Well gosh, this just causes me to completely rethink my spiritual beliefs.  How silly I’ve been to have fallen for this whole God thing in the first place. Insert giant eye roll here.

Later that morning I was sitting in church letting the words of the song “Break Every Chain” wash over me. I was in awe over its powerful message and by the beautiful voices of the band singing it.

“There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain”

Love was everywhere; in the cheerful nature of those around me, in the husband and wife announcing their new ministry of helping those with mental illness born out of their own daughter’s struggles, in the preacher reminding us of God’s promises of comfort and healing during tough times, in the ½ dozen booths set up to recruit volunteers for various missions involving helping the homeless, the vets, the hungry, the sick and poor.

A spirit of hope, goodness and light just permeated the atmosphere and the overwhelming presence of God was unavoidable, something a former pastor of mine liked to call Heaven on Earth.

The dichotomy between that experience and my atheist friend’s rant was striking.  One was uplifting and empowering, motivating me to spread joy and love.  The other just sad and empty, inspiring nothing more than pity for someone, whose pride in his own intellect has limited him in ways he can never imagine.

I thought about this some more as I was walking home later.  The sun was bright and warm, the birds were chirping and an abundance of blooming flowers who had apparently forgotten that it’s December and not May lined my path.  God’s glory was on full display, yet another reminder of the beauty his presence brings forth.

None of us knows for sure the absolute truth about God, but I’ll take the light of this  “unsubstantiated spiritual dictator” any day over the darkness of nothingness.