As is fitting in this special season of light, when I awoke this morning I immediately lit several candles around the apartment, and they glowed softly as I read and wrote. Every so often, I paused in my work and walked through the dark rooms, admiring the radiance of the little candles. They didn’t take up much space on the tables and bookshelves, but they sent out a healthy light throughout the apartment. This is an extraordinary day in the year, and the candles, as they should, glowed magnificently. It made me think of the power of many kinds of light – the light of lamps that allow people to see each other; the headlights of cars that take people to important rendezvous; the silent light of stars above this sometimes anxious world; and – best of all – the light of thoughts that continually flash and show us the way we should go. Our lives are surrounded and suffused with light. Even the tiniest light on a Christmas tree suggests the impressive power of light. As I drive to the airport this afternoon for my holiday visit to my extended family in St. Louis, I will watch for the lights shining along the way – lamps in windows of comforting homes, lights of holiday decorations, lights along the roads to help us all get where we wish to go. And I will think of the great light of the sun, which is the source of all light, and the even greater light of limitless Mind (which some call God). I’ll see and feel the shining that is in all places, all hearts, and all times.