There is something about loss that helps me see more clearly. It cleanses the fogged lens I can look through and reminds me that I get to be here today, and that you get to be here today.

What will we do with this gift of life we have?

This week has helped me take a look in the mirror and see that I am holding back in life. I have allowed fear and doubt to take up mental space in place of faith and freedom. I have listened and believed fear and doubt’s voices, and I have sat on the sidelines in life in many ways for too long now.

I was reminded of a moment a number of years ago when I saw two candlesticks sitting on a shelf in my dining room. They were from our wedding well over a decade before. What struck me about the candles is that I never used them. I was waiting to light them for…well, something. After I saw them sitting there on the shelf unlit after all those years, that night I lit those candles.

Why?

Simply because I could. And in lighting them, I was reminded that God’s word tells us that we are a light in the world. In Matthew 5:15, we are reminded that lights are not meant to be hidden but to shine and give light to the whole house. Just like my unlit candles, sometimes we don’t live out our purpose and instead hide the light that God has put in us. Today, let’s choose to let God’s light shine bright in us and through us, through out words and actions. And like those candles, which were made to be lit, may we remember we were made on purpose with a purpose. Our purpose is to love God and love others with God. We are called to be a light in the darkness. Let that truth be our guiding light today, which will help us snuff out the fear and doubt, and allow us to use the gift of this day to brighten our own hearts, and the hearts of others, just as my friend spent her life doing.

With gratitude and love,
Shawn

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

-Matthew 5:15