Isn’t it amazing what a few days in the ‘sun’ can do for your outlook?

Lydia and I had a chance to visit family and friends in the US over the October holidays.

The sun shone every day and the temperatures were in the 20s!  It certainly helped our

attitude to be more positive. I was thinking that I might be disappointed when we came

back to Scotland because our summer had been so grey.  But it proved to be a real treat

that the first few days back were quite bright and cheery.  Walking the dog,

encouraging Lydia to play  outside and even watching the sun out of the window

was a visual reminder that God’s light can make a big difference in our lives.

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I began to wonder about light and darkness and how the Bible speaks so much about it.  Darkness is the absence of light and light represents God’s glory and goodness.  John 1:5 speaks of the contrast in this way: ’The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’  Light has a way of penetrating the dark places.  When we light up our dark room with a torch we can see clearly. 

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In Scotland many of us are deficient in Vitamin D because we don’t have enough sunshine in our lives, particularly during the dark winter.  I am also wondering if our lack of ‘son’ (yes I spelled that right!) might also impact our spiritual health.  If we fail to spend time with Jesus, the son of God, do we suffer from lack of ‘sonshine’ as well???

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Obviously if we want to grow in our faith we need to spend time with the son!  Ways we do that include reading the Bible, praying and listening to the Lord and spending time with   other believers.  Just like we can be vitamin D deficient, we too can suffer from failing to spend time with Jesus, soaking up the light of his love and grace.  When we sit in the ‘sonshine’,    relaxing, meditating and being in God’s presence, then we will find our perspective often changes.  Spending time with God does not automatically take away all our woes,  just like  taking Vitamin D or using a sun lamp does not solve all our light deficiency.  However, being in relationship with God goes a long way towards changing the darkness that easily seeps into our lives.

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I am not sure about you, but I want to look at the world through God’s eyes and the only way I can develop that perspective is to spend time with him.  I want to be reminded of his goodness particularly when life is hard and the way to see that happen is to allow the light of Jesus’ love into my dark places.  I love in the winter how a warm fire or the glow of a candle or Christmas lights can brighten my mood.  Maybe I am just a child at heart but there is something about these small points of light that reminds me of my heavenly father and the goodness he brings into my life.

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So, during these dark months take some time to light a candle and watch how the warm glow transforms a room.  Take some time to study the twinkle of stars in a dark sky or watch for the aurora borealis and see how just the pulsing light and darkness can change the sky (even if you can’t see the colours with the naked eye!).  Get ready for the warm lights of  Christmas to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12). 

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Do not be ‘son’ deficient when there are so many opportunities to see God’s light around us.  Be a person that reflects the light to others and spend time during this dark season soaking in the light and love of God.  Let me know how it goes!  I am looking forward to hearing about many of your light filled God moments!