About

We are light in darkness. It’s our calling, our inheritance.

It was the calling of the Jewish nation too. Abraham saw them, those millions of stars lighting up the ancient sky. Your descendants, God promised. Too numerous to count.

Then Jesus said we were the Light of the World.

It’s brilliant, inspiring, and also a little intimidating. How are we light?

Growing up in the American Evangelical movement, I often thought “being light,” was a reference to “sharing the gospel.” And that could mean anything from raising your hand in class to knocking on doors and handing out tracks. And while that requires real courage, it is not the end-all when it comes to light distribution.

Being the light of the world is just that …. Being.

God is the great I Am and we, his children, also are. We Are. Everything we are, everything we do, ought to be light, not just the pamphlets we give away.

Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

That is how we shine: good deeds. It sounds a little dangerous to my protestant Grace-alone tradition. But it is not about doing good stuff. It’s about being good stuff and not being afraid to let it shine.

“This little light of mine. I’m going to let it shine…..”

Let it. Let it shine. It is as if we have to actively prevent shining from happening if we don’t want to be brilliant.

If you are Light, just a regular person filled with the Holy Spirit’s beautiful warmth, you are different and you live differently and you talk differently and you can’t help it. You might not even notice it, but other people will. And your good deeds will cause people to “glorify God.”

That idea amazes me. What I do, when I am just letting God’s light shine through me, is powerful enough to cause my friends and neighbors and maybe even my enemies to glorify God. Which brings me the inspiration for this blog’s title.

My parents are lifelong students of the Word. For as long as I can remember, my mom has started her mornings with the Bible, a highlighter, a pen, a journal and a cup of coffee. She read and she wrote and she shared with us what she was learning. She was always memorizing verses and she would walk around the house, like an actor learning her lines, absorbing the Word not only in her own mind, but in her children’s minds as well.

The phrase “shining like stars in the universe” was one of those phrases that caught my childhood imagination. Light in darkness. Brilliant. Beautiful.

I remembered it a few years ago and wondered what the reference was.

I’m not sure what translation my mother was using, but I’m pretty sure that phrase “like shining stars” comes from Philippians 2:14-15.

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”

Being light begins with simplicity. “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” Get that straight and you become “blameless and pure.” Stars in a dark world.

But everything without grumbling or arguing? Everything? Could you imagine, no arguing, no complaining? There would be no fighting, no divorce, no war. It would be a utopia. It would be heaven on Earth. Could you imagine?

This blog is dedicated to living that truth out: living light, being light. I write, not as one with answers, but one with questions and a listening ear to hear Christ’s answers. It’s not my accomplished journey, but my desire. I want to live a positive life of gratitude, letting my light shine bright …. like a shining star.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

May we shine like stars as we, like candles lighting a path through the darkness, make our way toward the Light.