BE THE LIGHT

     You've heard that phrase about being a light in the darkness, right? Who doesn't want to be a light in some way, big or small? There are so many ways we have heard this idea in songs and poetry, movies and books. "You're the light of my life," or "Let your light shine," or "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," and on and on.

I don't think I know too many people who would prefer to be the darkness that threatens to extinguish the light, at least not all the time. Granted, we all have bad days. I certainly do. But even on my darkest days when everyone and everything just makes my mood darker, I don't want to share that w/ others. I would rather go to my room and keep my bad attitude to myself so as not to hurt anyone and work through it and not come out until I've gotten it out of my system.

 "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it," John 1:5.

Lightness is amplified by the darkness surrounding it. Being a light in a room full of lights (picture a lighting store or a lighting section at Home Depot) just isn't going to have the same impact as one solitary light in the darkest of places. A flashlight or lantern is hard to see in the daytime but can save a life in darkest night. Stars are nearly if not completely impossible to see w/ the naked eye during the day but so wondrous and magical at night. And sparklers are so much cooler when its dark out! We aren't called to be lights in well lit places or even dimly lit ones. We Are all called to be a light in the darkness.

"Let light shine out of darkness," 2 Corinthians 4:6.

"Let your light shine before others," Matthew 5:16.

So you know what that means? You're not gonna like this, I think. That means we have to get out of our well lit places, our warm and cozy homes, our brightly illuminated too comfortable boxes, and Actually go to the dark places, the hurting and broken places, the uncomfortable and scary places, the places that need your breaking heart to shine brighter than the sun if it were to rise suddenly in the middle of the night. It is through the cracks in that breaking heart that the light and love burns so bright. A heart breaking & hurting for others inspires action. Who ever rescued the maiden or fought the enemy out of indifference? It is not apathy & ignorance, nor complacency or helplessness that ever defeated an enemy or rescued the slave or won the war. Or made a difference. Or changed the world.

There is something in this world that grieves your heart to such an extent you have no choice but to act, to do something, anything to fight the enemy. You can't just sit by any longer and watch (insert your heartbreak here) or listen to (insert your heartbreak here).

"You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness," 1 Thessalonians 5:5.

For me, as I'm sure you know if you know me at all, it is the absolute evil of human trafficking/slavery. I can't fathom a worse or more prevalent evil in this world that destroys the beauty, life, hope and innocence of so much of humanity with such blatant selfish greed, lust, and all around depravity. To be without a voice or an escape or any hope… It devastates my heart over and over and over again, especially when it involves children. Such tangible brokenness. Such raw pain. Such pure evil and darkness. How could I do nothing??!! How could I sit there knowing this evil was out there, next door, down the street, across town, and touching every single country in the world and not act??!! It's everywhere and touches every spectrum of life, regardless of your awareness of it or not. Even now as I type this there is a painful lump in my throat and tears of rage that are wanting to fall. It makes me feel as if I'm going to be violently ill.

Now I know I'm only one person, one rather small quiet person, not wealthy, influential or outgoing. Just one woman. Me. And this . . . well this is huge and it's everywhere. How could I possibly take on this mutant of a Goliath??! If I only ever listened to all the lies the world, the media, the enemy, tells me every single day, I'd believe it, the lie that I can't do anything. That I'm nobody. That I can't change the world.

But wait a minute… this isn't about me. Not really. They don't need little ole me worrying about my personal insecurities, deficiencies, flaws or struggles. It's about them. It has to be about them. Each and every one of them. Us. Every single one of them that makes up the staggering millions. It's not about me. If it is about me, they are still dying before they reach 20 years old from the abuse they have lived. If it's about me, they are still enslaved, suffering unimaginable violence, humiliation, brokenness. If it's about me, I'm contributing to the problem, not fighting mightily against it. If it's about me then they are still without hope, without love. It can't be about who I'm not but absolutely must be about what I am willing to do in spite of me and about who my God is. For them. For us.

When its no longer about who I am or am not but about who they were, are, could be . . . that's when it changes. It has to be about them! Not me. If it was only ever about me, I'd never leave my cozy home w/ my Netflix and fuzzy blankets and pizza. It's not about you, either. Not you. Not what you can't do, don't have, aren't. Them. Us. Martin Luther King, Jr. Gandhi. Mother Teresa. Me. You. Just one person each. One person who changed the world, their world, our world. You're just one person, too. When will you realize it? Don't wait too long. They need you. We need you. Start where you are. Big or small. You're someone. Do something!!

“If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday," Isaiah 58:9-10.