Live in the Light


 

As I walk my neighborhood, I am always looking down the alleys that divide each block. I love them because they look like little country lanes in the middle of a Dallas suburb. No matter how hot the day, they appear cool and inviting. They always seem to be inviting me to take a detour and explore.
This particular alley on this particular morning was especially intriguing. The shadows and the angle of the sun created the image of moving from darkness to light. It appears that just around the corner the light has dawned. If I could just make it around the corner, I could see the day in an entirely new way. If I could just make it around the corner, I could leave the darkness and the shadows and walk in the light.
Life can feel that way sometimes. We have enough hope to keep looking forward. We have enough faith to believe the light has come. But the light always seems just out of sight, just around the corner. It seems illusive, as if we are always chasing and never arriving.
This image reminds me that we already have the light. It is the light that urges us on. It is the light that guides us. It is the light that sustains us even as we seek to live in the fullness of it.
The Psalmist writes, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
The darkness does not hide us from God. Even in the shadow times we live in the light of God’s presence, love and grace. Who knows what fuller glimpse of light awaits around the next corner?
Peace.

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