Shine Your Light To Illuminate Your Backyard

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ (John 1:5)

With Daylight Savings Time ending and our return to Eastern Standard Time, it now gets light earlier in the morning (it was somewhat bright at 6:30 AM) and darker earlier in the afternoon (it was dusk at 5:30PM yesterday).  I am not a fan of Standard Time and one day would love to see Daylight Savings Time be made permanent, to allow the daylight to go later in the day.  But either time standard should be set in place, as it never made sense to me to have the clocks ‘spring forward’ and then ‘fall back’, which as been shown to cause health issues (stress, sleep disorders) among many people.

With Standard Time now among us, we close our blinds earlier in the afternoon, and we turn on our outdoor lighting earlier, as well.  When we first moved into our home 35 years ago, I installed a ‘street light’ on a tall metal pole as we had no neighbors and no ‘light pollution’ to see in our yard after dark.  It was pitch black beyond any inside lights that shined through the windows.  For many years, this big light illuminated the entire yard all the way to the edges of our lot, so we could look out at night and see the various creatures walking through the backyard, to and from their nests – especially the raccoons, but also rabbits, squirrels, opossums, armadillos, and the occasional bobcat.

As our neighborhood is filling in, I recently cut the pole in half and installed a new LED light as the old one was starting to buzz loudly, and the 175W bulb obviously ate a lot of electricity.  Though the new light illuminates the yard, but its ‘bell’ design and its lower height doesn’t throw as much of the light over the yard as the old one did.  The edges of the yard are dark, and only those animals who walk closely to the light can be seen.  Though we added motion sensors lights on the pool cage, some animals are small enough not to trigger them on.  A trail camera we have shows the number of animals walking through are about the same but we cannot see them as we once did.

But where the light hits, around the pole, is still well seen.  Even though it is dark outside, the light from our pole is not overtaken by the darkness.  The light penetrates the darkness and rips it open to reveal whatever the darkness tried to hide.  What does light do besides show what darkness hides?  Light can be a beacon to tell others to come toward it, or to warn of dangers, like a lighthouse to boats offshore.  Light helps us in seeing the pitfalls to avoid as well as see where we need to go.

Metaphorically Jesus refers to Himself and His people (us who profess Faith in Him) as the Light of the world.  Jesus and His people are to act as light does, to reveal Truth (His Gospel), to be that beacon for others to avoid pitfalls and to bring them toward Jesus, out of the darkness of sin.  We often need courage in the face of fear; Jesus provides His courage through the Light shining from Him.  We need not to fear man as man is by nature dark. 

Christians need to stand as tall as they can Spiritually so their Light can be seen over more of their ‘backyard’, the places we frequent often; the local establishments we eat at, the stores we shop in, the functions we attend.   Hold your light high, as the lower you hold your light the less of the light can be seen in the darkness around us. 

Do not be ashamed of shining your light; do not be ashamed of your love and relationship with Christ.  Let more people see the Joy of the Lord you have, and many will see your courage and share their love for Jesus as well – and the more who share their light, the more darkness that will disappear.

As long as we have Light, there is nothing we need to fear of man as the Light exposes Truth.  We should not fear to sharing the Gospel as many people need to know where to go, what pitfalls to avoid.   Be the Light to someone this week; put the Light on their pathway to help them avoid tripping off the path, or shine your Light over the water to have others avoid crashing into the rocky coast, and steer them into the safe harbor that is Jesus’ arms open for them.