Shining the Light

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

A few Sundays ago at church, for our praise song, we sang, “God of Wonders,” by Third Day. I really love that song. Phrases like, “the universe declares your majesty,” really resonate with this outdoorsy girl. When further into the song, it says, “Early in the morning I will celebrate the light and as I stumble in the darkness, I will call your name by night,” well, who hasn’t been on both ends of that spectrum?

You don’t have to live on planet earth very long to realize that we all walk in seasons of light as well as darkness. No one walks in only one or the other.

As the song was going and different members of the congregation had their hands raised in praise, a young child of maybe three or four, made her way up to the stage. She wasn’t a regular member. She was visiting with her grandfather, but she boldly went to the stage and raised her hands up for one of the singers to pick her up.

She obliged her and hugged her tightly and smiled and continued to sing. There was a collective, “awwww” that came from most of the congregation as the little girl remained content in the singer’s arms until the end of the song.

I thought about that moment long after the church service ended. I thought about the lyrics of that song that point to our holy majestic God. I thought about the music that drew a child closer to the musicians singing His praises. I’ve often thought that young children are possibly the closest people to Jesus’ heart because they love, trust and believe without fear. They don’t fear rejection. They don’t fear ridicule. They don’t doubt. When they sing, “Jesus Loves Me,” they believe it. Period. They don’t see a need to add a, “but” or “except for,” on the end. “The Bible tells me so,” is good enough for them.

But, besides being inspired by the little girl, I was also inspired by our trio of singers. What about their song drew her to them? As people of faith, perhaps we should ask ourselves what we are doing to draw others to Jesus? Do we act a certain way? Do we talk a certain way? Are we kind? Compassionate? Forgiving? How do we treat our spouses or our kids? How do we treat the waitress at the restaurant or the cashier at the grocery store who might not treat us very kindly? How do we react to the guy who cuts us off in traffic?

Are we light bearers in this sometimes dark world?

It’s probably never a bad idea to take stock on how we are doing. The wonderful news is that because of grace, we get a brand new chance every morning. A little girl and a praise song reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂