Photo credit to Prateek Guatam on Unsplash.
Recently, I was faced with a daunting and unpleasant opportunity. I was given a cleaning job working in a place I did not want to go to, a job that was unpleasant in almost every way. Worst of all, if I agreed to it, it was going to be a regular occurrence.
But...I was needed there.
But...I still didn't want to do it.
The one word to describe the job was dark. Everything about felt sad and uncomfortable. Yet the people there needed my help. There wasn't someone else readily available that was going to do it.
As I unhappily confessed my feelings to my Mother, she pushed me to take it.
"You bring the light to that place," she said.
You bring the light.
Going to the areas of our lives that are dark is unpleasant. We don't want to go there. We'd rather be anywhere else. But oftentimes, we're needed.
Christ was and is the Light. What did He do? He came to earth as an infant baby. He came to earth as the most vulnerable and helpless creature he could be. He came to this dark, dark, world to die.
Why did he do it?
Because he was needed.
I took the unpleasant job, and I did my best to take it with joy, determined to be the light in the darkness.
Today I challenge you to go to the dark places in your life. Be the light. We are the light of the world (Mat 5:14). And if we, as children of the Living God, aren't willing to go to the dark places...who will?
May you be the light this Christmas and beyond.
Photo creidt to Zoran Kokanovic on Unsplash.
I really love this, Emma. It kind of reflects one of my favorite verses in the Bible, Ephesians 5:8 "for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." Just out of curiosity, what is this dark place? You don't have to respond if you'd rather not say.
Oh I love this so much! Such a beautiful reminder that Jesus intentionally came INTO our dark world to be the light, so that then we could spread His light to the rest of the broken world. Thank you so much for sharing, Emma! ❤️
Thank you for this reminder! Often I find myself wanting to run from the dark, but that’s the exact opposite of what Jesus did - he ran towards the dark, he came to us.