Be The Light

 Living the Light. 

That one thought has been with me since the start of the year. That thought planted in my soul by a solitary Christmas tree in a field. That thought that had ignited it's own heart-glow and made me want to be more. That thought that had since driven me to live a Gospel-centered life of faith. And I hadn't let go. Would never let go. Because He never lets go of me. 

 I wandered into my favorite gift shop at the end of a long errand-list. Took a moment in all of the have-tos and slowed down. Smiled at all things spring in that little shop...all things fresh and new. Because Spring is His promise of renewal. And the renewal had been going on in me. 

 Then my eyes fell on this tiny bracelet and three simple words: be the light. Again, my call back to living what has been placed within. My reminder that the darkness is no longer my home and that no power of fear can ever take away that Light...because I am His. And He is Light. And I am to live His Light...forever. Always. It was the only one of it's kind in the store. And I felt as though God put it there as a gift to me. A reminder to never stop being His gift to a dark and dying world. That bracelet was intended to come home with me. And it did...

 Days later, bracelet and message on my wrist in plain sight, I attended a private high school graduation. The keynote speaker took the stage. I would later find out he was only ten years the senior of these young people. And he said more in about 15 minutes of speaking than many would or could say in an hour. He challenged them to counter-cultural living. To be the Light when many, including people in their own churches and peer-groups, are okay with letting the culture in. He told those seven graduates to not be afraid to stand alone and to accept that many won't be okay with a commitment to a holy life. I think many were shocked at what they heard that night. But he was right. Be the light. 

 I later thanked him and told him how many times my heart has burned to say some of those same things to young people who are where I once was. Things that aren't popular. Things like, may you experience failure so that you may grasp that you cannot do anything of value in your own strength; may you be met with suffering so that your faith can be refined in hardship; may you know moments of impossibility so that you may feel what it is to trust God for what you cannot see or understand... things that you won't see emblazoned on graduation cards or spoken in speeches. But things that shape a person's future and build a person's life. Hard things from which hope is born. Darkness is the seed-bed for Light.

 He told me he lost his brother at a young age. Now, I knew where the message came from. He said that the older he gets, the more he feels he has to use less words to communicate. He can say more with less. The Light always can speak for itself. 

 I got to thinking later that night...can it be that the broken become greater agent-carriers of this Light than those who know it only in part? That those who have been shattered have greater cracks from which the Light can shine? I sit at the computer and do a Google search. I type each word slowly...

Are people who have experienced trauma shown to be better writers, artists, speakers, and communicators than those who haven't?

 The search turns up nothing. Nothing except for a lone article saying that mental health professionals are now being given simulated trauma training to help them better grasp the heartache of those they are supposedly trained to help. That most psychologists and the like go into the field out of a sincere desire to help others but many have never walked a road that gives them the journey from which they can speak hope. They know information, but their hearts have never been torn in two. Now, they must resort to simulated images to help them understand what only those who have lived it can know. And it hits me: what if the ones who can really change this world are actually those sitting in the chairs opposite the medical professionals? What if the information-agents actually asked the broken to teach THEM something? Could it be that the answers are not where anyone is looking? Could it be that, once again, the inversion of God's Kingdom is at work?

 No studies prove this. No articles trumpet this. But those who have walked "the valley of the shadow" feel it deep: there is greater obligation to live the Light once you've lived the darkness. No amount of simulated images can come close to the real thing. You can't imagine pain. It must be lived. And one must walk through it choosing brave if one is to discover and experience the Light. For this is God's plan. That those who have seen the greatest hurt would one day turn around and use their hands and feet to offer hope and healing to others just like them. For, in some way or another, aren't we all broken? 

 His words echo in my mind, and I must say that I agree...he points out post-speach to me that he's noticed there are many heads in the modern world - many opinions and many ideas but few hearts, hands, and feet. The quiet servants, the broken ones, who live loved and love fearlessly. Who choose faith in a world that acts from fear. Who showcase Jesus in the most ordinary ways...these are the ones who get often overlooked. Because God isn't always grand and obvious. Sometimes He shows up through willing people in the most mundane, simple ways. Living the Light isn't always about being active for God - that the more you do, the harder you work, the higher you go will be your way to showing God's love. Theology can often be lived at the kitchen table, by the fireside, behind the scenes of much of life. This used to be the accepted until the world thought bigger and better was necessary. Until the Christians then felt the need to keep up. 

 God and His light won't often appear the way you expect. The people you think have the least to say may, in reality, have the most to say. The ones you suspect are the most mis-guided may actually be the ones who most have it right. Those farthest from the culture may really be those nearest to God. For what He considers most relevant is what is most irrelevant to everyone else. 

 Living the Light is a call to deeper believing, greater trusting, and the losing of self in order to find one's truest purpose within the will of God. It is the removal of sin and self-love out of the center of life and placing God and His love at the very heart of everything. Most won't be brave enough to live this way. But somehow, at least for me, this is a call to living I can't refuse. 

If you want to change the world, be the Light!