Access the Light

Years ago, I remember hearing about an author who was visiting the United States. One evening, needing to make a call, he found a phone booth. (Do you remember those)? But this phone booth was different from those in his own country. It was beginning to get dark, and he had difficulty finding the number in the phonebook. However, he noticed that there was a light in the ceiling, but he didn’t know how to turn it on. As he tried again to find the number in the fading evening light, a guy walking by on the street noticed his predicament and said, “Sir, if you want to turn the light on, all you have to do is shut the door.” To the visitor’s amazement and satisfaction, when he closed the door, the booth was filled with light.

Of course, phone booths are long since a thing of the past. So are phone books for that matter! But what a great metaphor for our own lives. So often we feel as though we are in the dark – groping about for guidance or peace or direction. We know there is a light, but we aren’t always quite sure how to access it. 

In the New Testament, Jesus sets an example for us. Not only during times of great need or stress, but over and over again, all throughout his ministry, Jesus withdraws from the crowds to spend time in prayer. I have to believe that this was where the inner strength to go back out into the crowds and continue his ministry came from. 

It is when we make time to sit in silence; when we close the door on the distractions of the world around us, and when we open our hearts in prayer that we begin to experience God’s light. The darkness of our worries and disappointments, our burdens, and heartache can then be exposed to the healing light of God’s love.

Let us pray: Loving God, we lay our lives before you again this day. We bring our hurt, our disappointment, our confusion, and our burdens, and we ask you to shine your healing / guiding light into our lives. Comfort us where we need to be comforted, challenge us where we need to be challenged, and fill us again with your strength, hope, and love. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.