Week Three: LIGHT
Monday / Everything Visible
Read Ephesians 5: 8-14a (NLT)
For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Think
When I drive by the forested ravine near my home during the summer, the forest floor is hidden from view. It’s dark and quiet behind its shield of leaves. Only in the winter can the sunlight shine all the way down to the floor, exposing the darkest, hidden places. It’s only when the cover of bright green leaves is stripped away by winter that the deepest, dark places of the forest are revealed.
I have these deep, dark places in my heart, too. I have secrets, sins, fears and emotions I want to hide deep inside me. There are dark places inside that I’m afraid to share. But, just like the trees in winter, I need to have my covering stripped away in order for the new birth of spring. My darkest places must be laid bare and exposed, so that God’s light can shine all the way onto the forest floor of my life. By stripping away the green leaves that I hide behind, God’s love and light illuminates my whole being. That way I can be completely whole, living my life in the light of Jesus’ love.
Pray
Help me , Lord, to look at my own dark corners. Come into my heart and flood me with your forgiving love. You are all-knowing, Lord, but also full of compassion and mercy. Look on my darkest sins with gentleness. Lavish your unfailing love on me as you forgive my sin. Walk with me through all the forests of my life and be my light in the ravines and on the mountaintops. Amen.
Do
Time to get out into the natural world. Go to a park, walk in the woods, look for signs of Spring. As you walk, consider the ground beneath you and the sunlight shining down from above. Where in your life is there a dark, hidden patch of ground? What will it take for you to strip away what’s covering it and expose it to God’s light and love?
The View from Mt. Hope 