I have a very bad habit this time of year.
Because the sun is coming up so late in the morning, I have to take the dog out for her walk while it is still dark. I am cognizant of safety concerns, however; and I am sure to wear a coat with reflector stripes, and I always take a light. The “bad habit” part is that I also take along reading material…
What’s the harm, you ask?
A couple of things, really. As I walk down that poorly-lit country roads, I need my flashlight to shine on the page in order to be able to read. This means my light doesn’t shine on the road itself. It also means my attention is on the reading material and not on my path, which results in me often stumbling over cracks in the road, and worse, my path is anything but straight. I usually end up in the grass, and a couple of times I’ve almost slipped into one of the drainage ditches that line the road. I’m afraid that from afar, I look like I’ve had too much to drink; but hey, what’s the harm? There’s no one out that time of day anyway, and I’ve never actually “fallen” into the ditch…
There are other complications, however, ones that are brought on by the light itself. When directed towards the road, it is the perfect brightness for my eyes that have adjusted to the low-light state. When I shine it on the page, however, it reflects back brightly, causing my eyes to forget that it is dark outside; and when I do put my eyes back on the road, I see nothing but blackness. But again, what harm is this? I mean, my eyes do readjust to the darkness, don’t they?
One final observation: When my light is aimed at the road, my 13-year-old, nearly blind dog trots on ahead of me in the circle of light. When I focus my light on my reading material, however, she stumbles along behind…
This morning as I was weaving back and forth across the road with the light’s reflection off my page blinding me completely, I heard a voice: “Now, that takes multitasking to its max!”
Yikes! I was caught in the act by none other than my next-door neighbour. He would have seen my drunken walk, and he had definitely noted my bad habit. Though his comment was friendly, I knew that what he was probably thinking was less complementary…
Just like I take a light with me on my morning walks, we are told that as Christians, “You are the light of the world–like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” (Matt. 5:14 NLT). Just like I have the option of either shining my light on my reading material or on the road ahead, the Bible teaches that we have two choices with our spiritual lights: “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” (vs. 15 NLT). In other words, we can either put our light where the world can see it, or we can “hide it” by using it only for our personal concerns.
Remember the negative repercussions when I use my light to read on my morning walks? When we only focus on our own concerns, we become blinded to what is happening in the lives of others around us. This self-focus puts us at spiritual risk of stumbling and falling into the traps of the enemy–self-pity, depression, anger, discouragement, etc.
When we focus our lights on the world around us, however, we begin to see things from God’s perspective. We see the path in front and the potential traps the devil sets to ensnare us, and even more importantly, our lights are there to help others. The most amazing part, however, is that as we focus away from ourselves, our own problems shrink in our eyes. The more we focus on helping others through their problems, the better we will be able to avoid the “drainage ditches” of discouragement, anger, depression, etc. that the devil hopes to use to ensnare us.
Please join us on Thursday for another important lesson I learned from my reading in the dark adventure…”The Light, Part 2″.
In His love
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, andScriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, withAnswers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access tne entire “The Light” mini-series, please click here.)