Light!!!!!!! I love light! Not so much dark....

As a child, I remember being afraid of, the dark. I would go to bed and if there wasn't a light on, I remember crying and not going to sleep until my mom or dad put a light on. As I got older and was able to choose which light was on and I made sure it was on each night. My first 2 apartments after graduation, I lived alone and at night, I slept with the light on somewhere in my apartment. Even now, motels need night lights. When Steve is at the hospital next week, I will have lights on in the house...all night. It is just the way I am. I don't like being in the dark...I need to have light.

A couple of days ago, I rolled over in bed at the crack of early...and said, "oh, it is getting lighter!" as I saw a pale light peaking through the blinds. I was basking in the thought that, indeed, the days were going to get longer! I was rejoicing in the gift of light. Then Steve said, I think that is the light post across the street. SWOOOOOOOOOSH....that was the sound of cold water pouring over my spirit!!!

It started me thinking about the gift of light. I remember the first time I realized that there was LIGHT before the sun/moon/stars in creation. It was shortly after I became a Christ-follower when our Bible study was studying Genesis and there it was:

In the beginning...

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

God saw that the light was good and separated the light from the darkness....

And there was evening and there was morning--the first day.

~ Genesis 1:1-5

So there was light that first day. Jesus' presence was the light that lit up the world...then over in verses 14-19, God creates the sun and the moon and assigns them their place in the day and the night. He filled the sky with stars and galaxies and the purpose of the lights in the night skies? To give light to the earth. God's night lights.

When Jesus came to earth, he came to be a light to men. (John 1:4) He goes on to promise in John 8:14

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Light casts out the out the darkness and Jesus cast the fear and those things that we face that seem overwhelming to us. Jesus' light can invade our space, light

up a dark place, give us light to keep us walking on the right path, and His reminder of His faithfulness to light our world can be found in those very first verses of Genesis...He created the lights in the sky to give light to the earth. Next time you look into that vast dark sky and see the twinkling of the lights that God placed at creation, remember, He placed them to light up the earth. What a perfect gift! For today in the Pacific Northwest the sun is shining and it is bright and I am filled with His presence.

Knowing this...realizing the peace there is in these lights...will this change my fear of the dark and the desire to have a light on? No, it hasn't but what has changed over the years...I know who holds my future and who will give me the light I need. I know of His faithfulness and His great love. And what is so exciting...He know that I need to have a light on in the darkness, and HE is crazy about me anyway!!!