The Tiny Blue LIght

I work night shift which means three days a week I sleep during the day.  Like most night shift workers, I have tried to make my bedroom as dark as possible and I think I have finally succeeded.  When the doors to my bedroom are closed, even during midday, it is so dark it seems as if it is 2 a.m.  It makes it wonderful for sleeping.

Except. . .

To help us deal with our allergies, my husband and I purchased an air ionizer.  It has done a wonderful job eliminating the dust in our bedroom.  In fact, it is almost like a miracle.  My only fault with the machine is the tiny little blue light that signifies it is on.  During the day, when the lights are on in the bedroom, the light is almost imperceptible.  When the lights are off, however, that tiny blue light shining in all that darkness, is so bright, it lights up the whole room.  That one tiny -- almost pinpoint of a light -- keeps me awake.  I have to cover that light, to extinguish it completely.

The blue light is more visible in the dark because it is dark.  The darker it is, the more the light stands out in contrast.  It reminds me of a very, VERY cold night we traveled home from visiting a dear friend in Arkansas.  We had just passed through a long area of frozen fog into a crystal clear night.  The stars against the black sky were incredible and it was the only time in my life I have seen a shooting star.  The stars wouldn't have seemed so bright were it not for the blackness of the night.

Sometimes as Christians, we look at the world around us and wonder at how dark, how evil some things have become.  Things of darkness that once were only hidden now seem not only open, but prevalent and accepted.  We can be tempted to despair, but let us remember that it is in these days of deep darkness, that the light of Christ in us will shine the brightest, will be the most visible.  Let us not hide ourselves, our our light, under bushel, but let our lights shine and be a bright beacon of the truth to all around us.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,

 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 

but have everlasting life. 

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; 

but that the world through Him might be saved. 

He that believeth on Him is not condemned: 

but he that believeth not is condemned already, 

because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, 

and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil."  

John 3:16-19