Let Your Light Shine

January is my least favorite month. The long anticipated festivities of Thanksgiving and Christmas are now memories to ponder and be grateful for. January is cold, bleak and can be depressing, February is fickle, March holds the official date of springtime and 2019 looms before us with pages yet to be written.

Now that I am close to tears as I write this, feeling as gloomy as this cloudy, cold day, I must give a rebuttle to my thoughts!

Most often seen in cartoons, there will be an angelic creature on one shoulder and a devilish one on the other shoulder of the character being portrayed. Each creature speaks into the ears and there is a mental battle of which voice to listen to. This is not too unlike the choice we make every morning we wake up. Which voice we listen to will likely be the path we take for that day, or longer if important decisions are made. Generally, the path we take will be filled with light, or be one of darkness.

I will never forget seeing an early ultrasound of one of my granddaughters. There was not much form that could be seen, but there was a little blinking light. It was her heart! What a beautiful example of our hearts, or spirit, being one of light!

With light there comes clarity of all the beauty around and within us. And light, much like joy, comes in the morning. Not necessarily happiness, but joy. If we choose the path of light, our race run that day will attract others to join us. A dismal example of this is the bug zappers. Even insects are drawn toward the light, but for them the result is not so positive. Plants will grow toward the light. Often a houseplant begins growing toward the window where the light pours in.

All this to sum up the most beautiful light of all.  Jesus is the light of the world, and Jesus is love. Just as the moon reflects the light from the sun, we as believers should reflect the love of Jesus in our lives. It is amazing to take a lit candle into a dark room and see how light pierces the darkness. But looking closer, one will see that there is no shadow of the flame, but the flame will light another candle. So it is with our relationship with those in our world.  Our lights leave no shadow, no darkness, but we can share our lights to brighten and warm this cold world. The recent passing of my mother-in-law reminded me of how one life can leave imprints of love and joy to countless souls. Besides over one hundred descendants, there were far more souls impacted by her in her 98 yr. journey. This world needs more like her to love and value everyone she encountered.