The fireflies are dancing –
lights on and off, up and down –
breathing in, breathing out
beating wings until they become invisible –
the spirits that uphold them in mid-air.
Is it mating? Is it survival?
Is it sheer joy for shining in the darkness –
causing children to squeal in glee and to go charging into the evening
toward the pale green glow?
This is one miracle of summer nights:
The floating, iridescent –
now-you-see-them, now-you-don’t –
beacons
that beckon us to wonder afresh how the gathering dark is also God’s creation –
filled with possibility, with life, with beauty
that cannot be seen or even imagined in the daylight.
And maybe, too, the Holy Spirit
is not just fire -
but microwaves. . .atomic waves?. . .
pulsing in the darkness, connecting me to you
to the world.
A force usually unseen, but more powerful in invisibility than in sight.
Cloaked in mystery,
moving among us,
maintaining the hum of life.
(6.4.19)
Image courtesy Radim Schreiber/ fireflyexperience.org and National Park Service