May the Long-Time Sun Shine Upon You

A word about the blog's title, "The Long-Time Sun":

It's a line from a sung blessing used at Camp Amnicon, the marvelous place where I spend my summers (and any other time I can finagle!) as a send off for campers at the end of the week. The full lyrics are as such:

May the long-time sun shine upon you,
all love surround you,
the pure light within you
guide you on your way home.

It's sung to an Irish jig tune and accompanied by a jelly-roll hug and general madness. When we're teaching the blessing to campers, we explain that there are many ways to think about the long-time sun, love, and pure light, and that one of those ways is to find God there.

To me, God is to be found in exactly those things-- in "the long-time sun", a representation of the life-giving natural world, in "all love", my relationships with other humans, and "the pure light within", my own, very personal, experience of God. I really see all life as a representation of God, a incarnation, if you will, of divine life. I am honored to be a part of God's expression on earth, and it is part of my mission to be the best possible representation I can be of the "pure light within" me.