Lights Shine Down

"Remember when our songs were just like prayers
Like gospel hymns that you called in the air
Come down, come down sweet reverence 
Unto my simple house and ring
and ring"
 - Stable Song, by Gregory Alan Isakov 

There's a back way to get to my apartment. Ignore the main road which most people know, and turn onto the next frontage road. At the light, a left, and if it's dark, that's when you'll see the sign.

It's on a small hilltop, coming into view as soon as you make the turn. The first time I saw it, my breath caught in my chest. Four capital letters in colored Christmas lights: LOVE. A sign created on a church fence. 

When the pandemic started, I drove far less than usual. The first time I took the detour home, I braced myself for the fact that the sign might not be lit up. The flipping of the switch to turn on the lighted message may have been a task set aside during uncertain times of social distancing. When I saw it there, bright and cheerful and comforting as always, it felt like reassurance. It felt like a gift. 

Likely, the sign is run on an automatic timer rather than a manual switch. Whether manual or automatic, I like the idea of the lights flickering to life as night falls, beaming softly down on all those who pass by. To take a photo, I pulled into an abandoned parking lot across the street from the hill. There wasn't even any building attached to the lot, at least not anymore: just a small empty area to park, with a view of the sign on one side and the city skyline on the other. I parked and got out to take my photo. Surrounding the hill are neighborhoods full of old and interesting houses and plenty of trees. Close by, the highway runs past, yet even so it was fairly quiet and peaceful. I attempted photo after photo in the dark, yet none came close to the feeling of driving around the corner and seeing the tall Christmas-light message of LOVE. 

There's not a single time I've seen that sign and have not viewed it as a lighthouse, a beacon of hope to whoever may need it. When shops were closing and people were losing their jobs: still, there was love. When protestors were marching down the streets: love. When people were divided over politics: love. When 2020 seems to bring a new and disheartening surprise each month: love. We can chose love, or division, anger, and fear. I feel it all, and yet, at the end of each day I decide to chose love, attempting to show it, cultivate it, and live it out. I do not always do the best job of it, of course, but that's part of being human. So, the sign is a reminder. It's a balm for me, a bold statement or directive. However it's needed at the time, I see it in the dark and it lands in just the right place in my heart.