We removed the blinds from the windows in our bedroom, trusting that the mini-blinds hidden beneath them offered plenty of privacy. However, when I awoke in the middle of the night, I opened my eyes to see a blinding, small ray of light. I just figured that my eyes were not adjusted to being open after being asleep, so I got up and made my nightly jaunt to the bathroom. I returned to settle in for a complete night of deep sleep. Boy was I in for a surprise.
As I settled back into bed and gathered my pillows around me, I noticed the blinding sliver of light was still there. It was shining right into my eyes as I lay on my pillow. It wasn't a problem with my eyes not being adjusted; the little shaft of light was incredibly bright.
When I raised my head from the pillow, the light left its trail right across my pillow. It was a narrow band of light that almost looked like a small laser beam. As I followed it, I noticed the light originated from a bright street lamp at the fire station about 100 yards away. Somehow, as it filtered through the small hole in one of the slats of the mini-blinds, it became incredibly focused and narrow. I'm not a wizard on the properties of light, the Doppler effect, or the frequencies of light generated by different kinds of vapor lamps, but that hole in the mini-blinds focused the light in a narrow band of intense light that was startlingly bright in my dark bedroom.
On sleepless nights, I've often looked at that shaft of light and thought about us — the Christian community — and myself, and our influence in the world. We live surrounded by so much darkness. In the middle of our world's dark night of the soul, an intensely focused, carefully directed life can be used by God to shine a clear, bright, ray of hope.
Jesus said it this way:
You are the light of the world — like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:14-16)
The apostle Paul said it this way:
In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them. (Philippians 2:14-15)
Maybe it's time for us to quit whining about the darkness and get a little more intense about shining the light that we have been given.
