Flip the Switch

 

Heading to bed always means necessitates turning off the lights, but I often forget to glance around the room just before doing so. My eyes usually take a few minutes to adjust to the darkness, which means without those glances, feet and toes can easily meet furniture or walls. The longer my eyes take to adjust, the more that typical household items become obstacles and catalysts for injuries. Maybe it’s safer to sit still in the darkness.

As 2020 came to a close, I couldn't help but think of the obstacles and “injuries” that came right along with it. In many ways, it was a dark year. With COVID, lockdowns, ongoing political drama, product shortages, job losses, schooling adjustments, false news, separation, sicknesses and death, and so much more, the darkness was heavy and overwhelming at times. As they say, hindsight is 2020, and I am thankful to bid it farewell.

Sitting still in the possible “darkness” of the new year, waiting for our eyes to adjust to the lighting, and trying to avoid the obstacles would be so easy. Keeping the switch off would blind us to what we may encounter in 2021.

Yet as we turn off the light to 2020, I hope and pray that each of us will choose to flip the switch ON this year - to live in the light, to be the light, and to stay connected to the Light of the world. Flipping the switch will not be a one-time activity, but a moment-by-moment one. When the world around us is chaotic, confusing, and disappointing, we can be the light. When we face the unexpected, we can focus on the Light. When we feel like we can’t clean up one more mess, do one more load of laundry, cook one more meal, referee one more squabble, or remind one more time, we can reflect the Light. While our children are making wrong choices and pushing our buttons, we can live in the Light. In the midst of change, chaos, confusion, conflict, and crushing circumstances, we can focus on the Light of the world.

Let’s flip the switch!

Let’s be the light!

Let’s stay connected to the Light!

Let’s live in the Light together!

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

“…I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12b).