Welcome to The Light, your quiet hour of reflection.
On the night of the NBA Draft, as young men waited outside Barclays Center for their futures to be called, Allen Graves gathered a circle of fellow prospects for prayer. Selected nineteenth overall by the Toronto Raptors, Graves later said simply that faith is the biggest part of who he is and why he was standing there at all. There is something quietly arresting about that — choosing stillness before the noise.
From one kind of knowing to another. Researchers have observed orangutans in the wild deliberately seeking out medicinal plants to treat their wounds — and remarkably, some of those same plants have long been used by local Indigenous peoples for the very same purpose. It asks us to sit with a humbling question about the boundaries of wisdom, and who we imagine holds it.
And in Scotland, Kate Forbes, the former Deputy First Minister, has spoken openly about what she sees as a cost the West is quietly accumulating — a slow distancing from its Judeo-Christian roots that she believes will carry consequences. She lost a leadership race for holding her convictions. She says she still feels like the one who won.
Three stories. Three different ways of asking what we believe, and whether we are willing to live inside that belief. That is this hour's reflection. Carry the light gently.
