Monday, May 25, 2009.  Happy Memorial Day. Yesterday for the first time in a long time I found myself driving after dark.  I’d run out to a meeting about 6pm and threw my wallet and phone in my pocket.  I really never need to carry my purse with me, so I didn’t put it in the car.  I figured I’d be back by 8pm, long before dark.  And of course I wasn’t, and of course one thing I keep in my purse is my driving glasses.  I mean, I can see fine to drive with my regular glasses and I do it all the time.  But if I’m driving somewhere unfamiliar, where I need to read the street signs, I put on the driving glasses.  I also put them off after dark, because I can just see the small details so much clearer.  So, as I was leaving downtown Melbourne about 8:30pm last night, I made a point to drive home along the best lighted route. 

Typically anywhere I drive, I take the green route, the route that takes me along the most natural scenery.  But in this case, that would put me driving south on US1 and in the dark without the driving glasses, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the scenery anyway. There are stretches without a lot of lighting, so I opted to take Babcock Street, right down the center of the city, lots of lights and other cars the whole way.  It was interesting taking that route, seeing the hustle and bustle and cars and lights; car radios competing.  Definitely not the leisurely US1 drive along the river I am used to.  I thought how interesting what I experience every time I follow someone else’s light.

I thought of the metaphors.  Not having clear enough vision of my own, with my other glasses at home.  Having to depend on someone else’s light to help me make my way back.  The lack of planning on my part in not keeping the glasses in the car instead of in my purse, which I don’t always carry.  I thought of all the times in my past that I let myself be led by this person or that group or this guru.  And while I feel i’ve benefited from it all, I find my vision much clearer on my own.  Enough so that I’ll keep the glasses in the car from now on.  Metaphorically, I’ll keep my eyes peeled and be observant.  I’ll let myself be led by the Light within me, as long as I can feel connected to it.  And I’ll make it my foremost goal to stay connected to it at all times.