Only a little more light

I gained a new appreciation for lighting when my mother came to live with me a little over six years ago.  As her macular degeneration advances, her need for light in almost any circumstance is much greater.  I have installed lighting under cabinet shelves to shine light inside cabinets, moved items to narrower cabinets because she cannot see into the depths of deeper ones, and purchased LED lighting to provide brighter light.  Darkness is part of the degenerative process with her eyes - the more the disease advances, the less and less of a visual field she has.  It is like taking a black piece of paper, punching a few holes through it with a needle and then trying to see life all around you through that blackness. Even the 54 inch LED flat screen cannot produce a picture she can see!  If we have never experienced this type of permanence of darkness, we really don't appreciate the value of the light around us!  Some people don't appreciate spiritual light until they have lived in their darkness for a good while, either!

The Law of the Lord is a lamp, and its teachings shine brightly.  Correction and self-control will lead you through life.  (Proverbs 6:23 CEV)

Light comes in a whole lot of different forms - both physically and spiritually. We can be "enlightened" on various subjects in the Bible, but totally be in the dark on others.  We might not even realize how much we are in the dark, but then all of a sudden someone says they can see something we cannot and we realize we don't have light in that area!  We don't appreciate the light until we realize the darkness.  

I have done some exploring of caverns over recent years, enjoying going down deep into the underground caves.  Some are narrow and damp, others wider and almost big enough to conduct a full orchestra within.  Something consistent in all these caverns is the absence of light.  Until light is brought into their depths, the beauty of their majestic stalagmite and stalactite formations cannot be appreciated.  The caves are just dark holes.  When light is brought within, the beauty is revealed.

The same is true in our lives - we are dark holes just waiting to be explored for the beauty contained within.  The only way the beauty is appreciated is through the introduction of LIGHT.  Light comes as Christ enters into the "void" of our lives and begins to open up the majesty of our inner beauty.  We may not display crystalline majesty, but we display the image and glory of Christ our Savior - for as light comes into our lives, his beauty shines forth from within.

The Word is a lamp - the teachings contained within are light to those who will embrace them fully.  We can have "night-light" strength apprehension of the truths contained within, or "flood-light" strength!  Which would you prefer?  I don't like the shadows still left by the night-light!  I want the full exposure of beauty which comes with the "flood-light" of his truth within my life!  

Where do correction and true "self-control" come from?  They are both an outflow of light.  We can "correct" our course, avoiding the nightstand's ominous damaging capabilities when we have light!  We can exercise "self-control" when we understand the difference between one course of actions over another.  All this comes as we allow the Word of God to get into us.  We get correction - so we don't bring damage into our lives.  We get "restrictive actions" - so we don't go down wrong paths.  This is what happens when light is allowed to enter into the darkness of our lives.  

We may not appreciate light at first, but live in darkness in ANY area of your life for a while and you will come to appreciate it!  When we have enough desire to have light, we will pursue it with all we've got within us.  Mom misses the light - so she does everything she can to have what light she can take in.  I think she gives each of us a little lesson on how we should pursue light - with tenacity, holding out for whatever light we can apprehend - until the darkness is finally and totally reversed!  Just sayin!