“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 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 5:14,16
“What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:5-6
“Be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.” Philippians 2:15-16
The vastness of blues of water and sky fills me with rapturous praise for their measureless Maker. Flecks and flicks of fish sprinkle up from the surface, splash to the right, to the left, in front. There is something almost humorous, certainly smile-inducing, about their happy exertion to flip up and reflect the early sun’s light like so much twinkling silver. Could I be such a fleck of light in my world? Would I be?
So much conversation today, even air thick with unseen and unspoken tension, weighs the heart down. The enemy prince of the power of that air is constantly working to depress us, detract us, diminish or extinguish the light by which we see and shine. Bad news, worse news, foreboding dangers are said to loom before us, inviting reaction, and many surrender to their lure to dark and narrow thinking. (Ephesians 2:2)
Yet I, my Jesus within, have the opportunity not only to share His light when asked, but to shine it, breaking through the surface of fear and gloom to flicker its gleam into conversations, its smile into masked anxiety, its divine gems into earthly occupations and sullen absorptions. Would I seek out such opportunities? (John 1:4-5; 8:12)
Am I so continually filled with the Spirit that when I’m bumped by another’s rudeness or stress, or put on a spot, He splashes out? Do I ask the Lord to energize me to move among others, to inflect my speech with His joy, to sprinkle surprise tokens of genuine love and leave behind flecks of heavenly encouragement along my path? (Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:18-20)
What opportunities has the Lord given us that we might be ignoring because of self-absorption, busyness, or a calloused heart? What might change in our perspective, our prayers, our plans, so we can be deliberate and active in sparkling His silver for spiritual paupers to behold, and take hold? Are we willing to be made willing?
Lord, cause Your face to shine on me, and lift Your countenance upon me, that I may strew flecks of Your light wherever I go. (Numbers 6:25-26)
As the rain and snow 