A Nearby Light

When I was a small child, due to the arrangement of our house, I would share a bed with my sister on Christmas Eve. This way, I was not inclined to hear Santa come and deliver the gifts. One year I woke up in the middle of the night, hoping that St. Nick had come, when I looked and saw the shadows of reindeer on the window. "HE'S HERE!" I thought. Oh, I couldn't sleep after that, but what kid could! Somewhere in that scene my sister woke up. We talked about it and she questioned if I saw what I saw was truly what I thought I saw, or not. But there was no convincing me otherwise. I don't know what it actually was, but we all know what it wasn't!

Sometimes seeing a shadow can be fun and mysterious, but there are other times when it is not fun. Times when your imagination may take what you see and turn it into something frightening. Worse yet, when what you see is something frightening! Shadows are interesting "things". They can be mysterious to the young person just learning. They can play tricks with your mind. But all in all, they are still shadows. This brings us to this week's quote...

Never fear shadows.
They simply mean there's a light somewhere nearby. ~ Ruth E. Renkee

Fear can be mind numbing. We play something over and over in our minds for so long that we dread what is out there. We've probably all been in situations where a shadow has brought about fear. Once the fear entered, we were unable to rest.

I enjoyed this quote regarding shadows because it points out that even when we may be a bit fearful of things, as a result of a shadow, that the light that is nearby is comforting. Some of you may not know that what Jesus brought to us was shadowed in the Old Testament. For example, the ritualistic and ongoing sacrifices that the Jews performed for the atonement for their sins was just a shadow. Jesus' sacrifice for all, was the light that cast that shadow to the people of the Old Testament. Knowing that Jesus' sacrifice was good enough for all, especially numero uno, shouldn't cause us to be fearful, but to be excited!

Light is always what causes a shadow. Look for the light in each situation.