The armor of light 5: Dressed up for the New Year

I thought I’d change clothes after Christmas, but now I think I may try to wear the armor of light all year long. The armor of light is a spiritual outfit made of the fabric of God’s love which cannot be pierced by the swords and arrows of misfortune and malice that may come our way on any given day. When I’m dressed in the armor of light I miraculously remember that I am here to love and be loved and to sacrifice my wants for the sake of the needs of my neighbors. In the armor of light all my wants dissolve in the recognition that all I want is God, and God is closer to me than my own breath and heartbeat.

A spiritual practice taken up for a season has really done its job if it sticks around after the season is over. When I’m all dressed up in the armor of light I feel like the electric charge of God’s illuminating love is running through my veins. I am a little more inclined towards patience and kindness and a little slower to exercise my wants and voice my complaints. But why just move around like that for a season? Though I’m not there, I have come to believe that we can learn to live in God’s sustaining love always.

Everywhere I turn I am face to face with my limits, but dressed in the armor of light I am outfitted to let go of my need to control. In the year ahead, why not go about with our fists unclenched in wide-eyed confidence that everything’s happening right on time and just as it should. God’s in charge, and our work is to lighten up and enjoy each other, helping where we can and loving always. 

Etty Hillesum wore the armor of light in a concentration camp. She wrote this in her diary, “And now I shall venture out upon this day. I shall meet a great many people today, and evil rumors and threats will again assault me like so many enemy soldiers besieging an inviolable fortress.” You are an “inviolable fortress” dressed in the armor of light. Go forth and shine.