In his inaugural address in 1989 incoming president George Herbert Walker Bush initiated a domestic effort to recognize volunteer, humanitarian and community leadership initiatives that made a difference for the greater good. You may recall he called it: “A Thousand Points of Light.”
This is what Bush said in his inaugural address written by the great speechwriter Peggy Noonan.
“I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in the White House, in the Cabinet agencies. I will go to the people and the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I will ask every member of my government to become involved. The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in.”
My aunt, Neala Hoch, was named as one of those Points of Light for her leadership efforts in the recycling industry across the South.
It was a momentary time of scandalous debate in our family with significant Democratic roots.
She recalls: “The family had mixed feelings about me meeting with Bush. Everyone was proud, but Aunt Jimmie told me to spit in his hand!”
Politics aside, we were, and are proud of her. She was recycling when recycling wasn’t cool. Ahead of her time in that regard.
Points of Light … how interesting.
I love variety, impulse and whimsickle moments of craziness, but I’m also a creature of habit, especially in the early morning hours from 3 until around 6.
Gotta make the coffee, check email, check FB, check the blog hits, write the blog, take time for study of the Word and see what God has to say on that particular day.
And of course, there’s always a bit of quality time with one of my favorite girls – Snickers – my prized cocker spaniel.
But I always also spend a few moments of quiet reflection outside by the pool which is on the north side of our property.
On clear mornings I can look in the same direction every day and see the Big Dipper. And sure as the sun rises, the two stars at the end of the ladle point directly to the North Star – the only fixed star in the sky that never “moves” as related to the earth’s rotation and orbit.
It’s always there, in the same place, every time, every morning. Always. Always. Always.
You know where this is going.
There is another fixed point of Light in each of our lives. It is the Great Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We may wander. We may stray. And we may close our eyes to put ourselves in intentional darkness, but the Light of Christ is ALWAYS there.
He’s in the same place He always has been, is and always will be. You don’t have to look very hard.
And PS Aunt Neala: I’m still proud of you, even if you did shake the hand of a Republican.