shiny shellac and holy light
© rabbi menachem creditor
An amazing thing, lightfall on the shiny shellac of a wooden table.
Questions arise:
Where did this tree live? How far did its journey take it before it became an object of reflection (and likely the recipient of copious restaurant spills)? Is the dark of its stain natural? Earned? Cosmetic? Did the journey etch itself in deep grooves and furrows, only to be erased in an effort to be functional, to be "presentable"? How many resting hands have recoiled from the stickiness of the shellac? How much weight can this tree support?
Across the table from me, an older couple looks into each other's eyes. She wipes crumbs from his beard, and his laughter is peace. He helps her stand as she grasps her cane, and her glance is heaven. The woman to my left, click-clacking on a laptop, shares my daughter's name (I hear the server call to her, and am suddenly aware she's there). Even her scrolling screen feels like more now.
Children, pastries, names, lovers, countertops, music in the air... Table has seen it all, nurtured it into being, and offered up this bursting moment to an open-hearted visitor who thought a gluten free, veggie-feta pocket was the purpose of this mid-journey stop.
Deepest of all, thanks to the Holy Table:
If you look closely, peer well-beneath the surface, you might even see that the tree, alive and pulsing, is and always has been reaching for the light. So too is every living thing eternally connected to the unceasing Light, the Holy Source of all, the indefinable illumination that penetrates from within and without.
Light, Dear One, light. More and more and more and more. Please. Thank you.
#light #blessing #witness #holinessallaround #BuildOnLove