This Little Light of Mine

Yesterday morning, I sat in the darkness of my room. It's that time of year where the mornings and evenings are typically chilly, but the sun's perseverance warms the midday hours. I put on socks to warm my feet and hymns to warm my heart that was feeling heavy. In the midst of all the unrest, I was restless. Mourning and rejoicing was still the companion of my thoughts.

And here's where it gets convoluted: finding some sort of balance. What does it look like to be able to rejoice about all of the good without somehow blocking out or ignoring the mournful bad?

It's easy to feel disconnected, I think, when we aren't directly affected. It's easy to live safe lives inside our carefully crafted constructs. Until we are affected, that is. Until it is our loved one dying, our sick child in the hospital, our city that is engulfed in flames...

In the darkness, I lit a single candle. I was caught off guard as I marveled at how the small, flickering flame illuminated the darkness. This verse came to mind: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:5)

Then I remembered, this Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent where people everywhere will light a candle for hope. And that Hope can't be extinguished. Even in the midst of seemingly hopeless and heartbreaking atrocities.

There is Jesus.

And I don't have all the answers...

But, there is Jesus.

The Light in the darkness.

Present in the mourning. The very same Jesus who wept and told us to love one another.

Love those who are marginalized. Love those who are hurting and grieving.

And when we love like Jesus, when we truly seek to emulate Him (and not our own agendas), it would be like a conglomeration of all these little lights that that would come together to illuminate the world. A world full of people who are hurting. A world full of people who need to see the love light shine.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great Light; those who dwelt in the land of intense darkness and the shadow of death, upon them has the Light shined. (Isaiah 9:2)

So, friends? Let it shine.