Thursday 15 February 2007

We continue exploring the words of Psalm 139 . . .

(11) If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night," (12) even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

I must begin by confessing that I can be of a bit pessimist at times. It is easy for me to say things like, "This just figures," or "That's the way my life always seems to go" (especially when it comes to the traffic lights that I'm convinced conspire against me). Sometimes it seems more satisfying to live in the darkness of our cynicism and easier to simply say the world is headed in a dark direction. But even if the world were heading into a dark age, it wouldn't be dark in the eyes of God. Wherever God's children are, there is light. Whenever God's love holds power over things like frustration, failure, and death, there is light. It is easier for us to live in the darkness because in the darkness we don't have to act on what we see. Thankfully, we are not people of the dark, we are people of the light.

Connection: Our eyes take a little while to adjust to seeing light in the midst of darkness. In what part of your life do you feel like your eyes are still adjusting? If darkness is as light to God, what do you think God sees in your darkest places?

Brilliant God, reveal to us the light you see in us and in those around us. Open our eyes to see what you have made, and make us lights to your people so that they might also see and praise you. Amen.