Welcome to The Light, your quiet hour of reflection.
A young boy named Andy was struck by a car while walking the family dog. A stranger stopped, knelt down, and gave him CPR until help arrived. That one act of presence held a life in the balance for a week. In our most ordinary moments, we are never truly alone.
From that tender human fragility, we turn to something quietly astonishing in the natural world. Scientists have discovered that plants can experience what we might call optical illusions, responding to light in ways that mirror perceptual errors once thought to require a brain. What we call awareness may be far older and stranger than we imagined.
And in civic life, voices across the faith community are calling Americans to the ballot, with Christian leaders including Franklin Graham urging participation as abortion measures and congressional seats hang in the balance. Whatever one believes, the invitation to show up for the common life remains a moral act worthy of reflection.
That is this hour's reflection. Carry the light gently.
