Out in front of my house, there is a streetlight. A few years ago, whoever is charged with the upkeep of said streetlight installed a new light bulb. I don’t know the wattage on the new light bulb, but the company that produced that particular light bulb deserves some sort of award (a medal, a cookie, a cuddle… something). They have functionally harnessed the light of the sun itself! It is, quite possibly, the brightest streetlight I have ever seen. This amazing miracle of luminescence, however, is not limited to the front side of my house. In what I must assume is an effort to eliminate inter-neighborhood jealousy, whomever installed the miniature star on the pole in front of my house also installed one on the pole behind my house on the next street over. I’m fairly certain that our little corner of Seymour, Indiana can be seen on the International Space Station when it floats overhead at night.
Why am I so keenly aware of the brightness and location of these marvels of human achievement, you might ask? It just so happens that my bedroom has windows that open to both the front and back of my house. At night, when the darkness descends and streetlights awaken, the light from both floods into my room like the dawning of a new day. I am truly grateful for the streetlights in my neighborhood. I understand the benefits they provide. But, it is exceedingly difficult to sleep with the full glory of the heavenly hosts streaming upon your face. Therefore, we make every effort to keep the light out. We close the doors, adjust the blinds, draw the curtains, and, in times of desperation, we hang blankets. Then, we lie down in the darkness we have created.
Over the last couple of years, the darkness of our days has seemed overwhelming and ever-present.
Over the last couple of years, the darkness of our days has seemed overwhelming and ever-present. The words difficulty, division, and darkness have become default descriptors we often use when talking about the struggles we continue to face. I, myself, have used them with great frequency, and unapologetically so. I wonder, though, if our focus isn’t, in ways, compounding the problem. Have our feelings of frustration, anger, discouragement, sadness, and fear become blinds, curtains, and blankets that we have drawn closed on the windows of our hearts and minds in attempts to protect us from what’s outside and in the process shut out the light with the darkness?
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus talks about the eye being “the lamp of the body.” He notes that if the eyes are healthy and doing their job, the body will be full of light, but if they are unhealthy the body will be full of darkness. When we take into account the surrounding verses, we see that Jesus isn’t saying the eye is the source of the light, but that the eye is the point of entry. He’s actually talking about the eye as a window that lets the light in. Jesus is encouraging us to understand the important role our focus plays in determining how we perceive and participate in the world in which we live. Just a few verses later, Jesus takes the encouragement a step further. He notes that we will find that which we look for; “Seek and you will find.” Too often, I think we find ourselves sitting in the darkness of the day because that’s what we’ve chosen to fixate on. One need not look too hard or too far to find the darkness, but in the midst of the darkness, light is shining if we’re willing to let it in. We’ll find it if we open up our eyes and look for it.
Rather than letting our feelings of frustration, anger, discouragement, sadness, and fear blind our eyes to the light that shines around us, we need to open our eyes anew to the goodness of His grace that His light might shine into our souls, bringing hope and new life.
It’s time to pull back the curtains, open the blinds, and let the light in again. Much like the street lights outside my house, God has sent His overwhelming light into the world. Jesus, Himself, is “the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Rather than letting our feelings of frustration, anger, discouragement, sadness, and fear blind our eyes to the light that shines around us, we need to open our eyes anew to the goodness of His grace that His light might shine into our souls, bringing hope and new life. As the light shines in, it fills us; and in turn shines back out, further illuminating the world around us. The darkness is not winning. It need not be what defines the days in which we live. Let the light in, in order that the light might also shine out.
