Recently we suffered a power cut at home, just as I was looking forward to my morning coffee, Fortunately, the power was restored within half an hour and, as it was daylight, I didn’t need to search for candles.
How much we depend on light; how often we take it for granted. The first thing we do when we go into a darkened room, is put the light on. We spend money on different kinds of lighting for different rooms or tasks in our homes and, sometimes, for our gardens too.
Power cuts usually arrive without warning and it’s a shock to be disconnected from the power which sustains so much of our lives. One of the most unnerving experiences I’ve had was while on holiday, driving along a winding country road at night.
I went from seeing the road ahead to being in total darkness as the car’s headlights failed suddenly and, fortunately, temporarily. A different power source in that case but the same sense of disorientation.
In our spiritual lives, there are times when we feel we’re bathing in Jesus’s light. It’s so clear, coming from above, around and within us. We feel so closely connected to Him. What a wonderful feeling. Not only is it comforting and supportive but it’s lighting up the path ahead so we see very clearly the way we should be going.
Sometimes though, we can suffer a spiritual power cut. It might be triggered by a specific event or it might come on gradually, caused by depression, doubt, anxiety, or low self-worth, for example.
The light which had surrounded us seems to have been extinguished and we can’t move forwards, or go back to where we were. When that happens, it might take some time to be reconnected. Will God’s repair be the personal equivalent of replacing a fuse or will we need a more fundamental rewiring?
Whichever it is, God will work gently, doing exactly what is needed to restore us to full relationship with him. Our connection to him is never truly broken. However deep the darkness, there’s always a candle flickering, gently but persistently in us.
We sometimes need to search really hard to find it and we might feel bereft, but darkness is just the temporary absence of light and the candle of Jesus’s love for us burns constantly, guiding us through the darkness towards a renewed sensing of his love. In time that flicker will become a steady flame burning in us again and shining out to others.
Everyone is called to carry Jesus’s light to other people. Even if our own candle is flickering a bit at the moment, don’t let’s forget times when we’ve been to candlelit carol services where a flickering candle can still light another one, which lights another one and so on, until we’ve created the most beautifully lit space.
So, let’s spread the light now, trust in Jesus to deal with any current or future spiritual power cuts and …. if you haven’t had your morning coffee yet, I pray that the power will stay on at least until you have!
Sunlight Through the Shadows 