Light of the world

We've had quite a few power outages lately.  The second to last one was a "grey out" - some people had light, others didn't, and a few just had very weak power.  I found myself in the latter category.  My neighbors below me had full power, and it surprised them to learn that I couldn't put the football game on the cable signal we share.  For them the electricity was fine, but up here it just wouldn't stay on and I finally unplugged the box completely.

It took the power company over 12 hours to respond - which meant we were without power and water overnight.  I left my curtains open all evening to try to make use of the final bits of light left in the sky as the sun finally ducked under the horizon.  Then, as it became more apparent that we wouldn't be getting our power back anytime soon, I pulled candles out of my closet - sharing a few with the teenage girls' house that was without power as well.

I had a small amount of illumination from the overhead lights in my kitchen, and I briefly considered closing my curtains.  Would that help keep the light in and make the room brighter?  I quickly realized that that's not how light works.  Reflecting it might help the situation, but containing it doesn't make it brighter.  Trying to contain the light within my apartment would not make it any brighter, it would just make the outside world darker.

What a simple concept, one I'm sure others have expounded on at length.  But it was a moment of illumination (haha - no pun intended) for me.  Hiding our lights under a basket (Mt 5:14-17) not only deprives the world of your light, but also does nothing to make the light brighter for yourself.  We must let our light shine before others.

This also reminds me of the bright stars from my previous blog post (Darkness and dawns) - how I've observed that is when the darkness is deep that the stars stand out so clearly.  When I am in that darkness before the dawn, maybe I should look around for those points of light that remind me to hope that the light continues to shine brightly, even though its warmth seems so long in coming.

And, in these days when the world seems to be a darker place than usual, maybe we are to be those points of light for other people to see and take hope in.  As the world seems to get darker, may we continue to shine brightly - not fearing the darkness, but faithfully shining on.  And, like the rural night sky full of stars, may it be amazing to look around and see how many of us there are.

A closing thought, one I never pay much mind to - but actually, when the sun is in our sky, the other stars are still up there too, shining on.  We just usually can't see them due to the brilliance of the great light.  How wonderful that when God's light shines in its blinding brilliance, our lights will continue to shine too, but they will be nothing in comparison to his great light.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-17