I was struggling recently
with some puzzling passages in a book, when suddenly it was as if a light
illuminated the sentences and I was able to quickly and clearly see their
meanings. To me, it was a startling illumination after many minutes of confused
reading and re-reading. It seemed like a great light had been given to me from
somewhere. It started me wondering: How does it happen that all of a sudden
some mystifying words on a page can shine with significance? Why does the light
of understanding sometimes swiftly switch on where there was, moments ago, only
obscurity and confusion? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, because this kind of
sudden shining occurs in my life more often than I sometimes realize. As I’m
writing this, I can see the old quilt of snow across our yard, and even after many
weeks and under gray skies, it still glows with a baffling kind of brightness. It’s
as if long, bright light bulbs are laid out beneath the snow, bringing a
luminous brilliance up to the surface. What’s interesting is that I almost
never notice this brightness in old snow cover, just as I often don’t see the
meanings in sentences set down in a book many years ago. I guess it takes some
stroke of magic to make both month-old snow and perplexing sentences abruptly
light up for this old but still enthusiastic fellow.
No comments:
Post a Comment