(In a recent Quaker Meeting for Worship, one of our senior and "weighty" members voiced her dilemma with respect to the current political climate in the USA. She felt her faith challenged by the lack of integrity of our current leaders, and was distressed by her difficulty at maintaining charitable feelings towards them.)

As Quakers, we are told to "respond to that of God in all people" or, in the more modern, less theist, and more inclusive interpretation, to "respond to the light in all creation." I'm certain that all Friends over the years have at times found this to be a challenge in one case or the other.

When I notice that it's too easy for me to deny that a person or a situation has any "measure of the light" in him/her, I remind myself that we are admonished by our faith to "respond to the light," not necessarily to find it near the surface and pointing at us.

When this happens, there are two changes that I notice. First, if I assume that the person or situation that I find to be a challenge indeed has "some measure of the light," but that it might be obscured from my view, or indeed misunderstood by me entirely, then it becomes easier to find some small amount of charity on my part and to have faith (or at least hope) that the other person could in fact, be operating with compassion and integrity, but starting from a very different point of view and a different set of definitions.

Secondly, even if we cannot "find" the source of light in another, we are still instructed to "respond" to it, in other words, to point our "light" at the other person, and to respond with the best that is in us. Doing this changes your heart entirely, and therefore changes your attitude and your voice as well. Even if I fail completely on the first point, at acknowledging the light in a situation or in another person, if I still make it my policy to respond to the situation with the best of the light that I can locate within myself, I will be responding as a different person. I will stand a much better chance of being pleasantly surprised.