"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
Chinese Proverb
Well, the actual day of Christmas has come and gone. Yesterday, Christians celebrated the Holy Light that came into the world (as we should do every day!). But honestly in the beginning of my divorce trip, I know I cursed the darkness (and certain people and situations!) more than I celebrated the light around me everywhere. It seems especially on the holidays, whether we want it or not, the light gets snuffed out by our preoccupation with our own troubles. The darkness, the sadness, the loneliness are real, and we are all tempted to rail against those things.
But what good does that do? What good does it do to shake our fists and sob and scream? After all those things are done, it's still just as dark, and we are worn out from the effort.
So now that the actual day of Christmas is over, what can we do moving forward?
Light a candle. Do some small act of kindness. Do some tiny positive action. Light some little spark of gratitude. When we do that, our little corner is no longer dark. One of the definitions of darkness in the New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary is "the total absence of light." If we provide even a flicker of light, we have defied it. We have destroyed it's control.
So even though it doesn't seem like much, your little light will combine with the other lights all over the world, and when that is the case, darkness doesn't have a chance. Find other people who are shining. Let your "little light of mine," shine! It's what we're all here for.
"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand —shine!" Matthew 5:14-16 (The Message)
P.S. I got this wonderful bracelet for Christmas this year. I love it and it demonstrates what I'm going to try to do in this upcoming year … I'm going to "Shine On" no matter what! I can find little and big ways to do that every single day. You can, too … maybe more brightly than ever because of the darkness you are working through. Remember, any tiny bit of shining we do absolutely destroys the darkness. That's powerful.
