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Who turned the lights off?
Why is it so dark in here?
Shuffle. Shuffle…..to check the light switch😵💫
Exactly.
We foolish humans.
Always thinking that we must defer control of all things bright and light to
Somebody else.
We forget to yield.
We forget to stop.
We forget to look.
We forget to lend a helping hand.
We forget to remember.
To pull up our boot straps and start lighting up the lives of others.
Oftentimes.
With those we hold near and dear.
We fumble the words to say.
Thank you.
We become so enmeshed in our own fears. We break down.
We do all the rights things…….in preparation of the festive party.
The baked goods. Check.
The holiday sweater. Check.
The bad holiday sweater. Check.
The perfectly coiffed hair. Check.
The right hand bag. Check.
The right Santa hat. Check.
The best hot chocolate with schanapps. 🙂Check.
And so on and so on.
We have arrived.
We mingle.
We swingle.
And then.
Pow.
The lights go out.
Ugh.
What are we to do when we cannot see.
What are we to do when we cannot see,
One another.
One good thing?…….
The hurts we hold deep in our hearts do not show, are not shown in the darkness.
One bad thing?…..
The hurts we hold deep in our hearts do not show, are not shown in the darkness.
So.
What do we do next?
Turn on our inner lights.
And shine, baby, shine.
For each other.
It is safe to say.
None. Not one of us like to admit our frailties.
Ugh.
Ick.
Especially not with the perfect holiday sweatered person holding the perfectly baked cookies. Yum. Yum.
What do we do?
We testify.
Huh?
Yes.
Testify.
To the light.
To honest behavior.
Free. Courageously.
As John did.
He, John, was on a mission.
To implore us to testify.
To be the light.
For others.
For ourselves, too.
He requires of us to rise above mediocrity. (pf)
He require us to rise us with humility and grace.
He knows.
He KNOWS.
We cannot save ourselves alone.
He laughs when he sees us try to do it on our own. No.He does not laugh AT us. He laughs at our efforts of
Prideful behavior.
Pride is a fickle beast of whispering nuisance. It harbors only ill will in the face of impending doom. Pride makes us do silly, silly things.
And. We look silly doing them😉.
We could have just asked.
But we did not.
and we are left shuffling to the light switch flicking it on and off to no avail.
The Lord sends people like us, people like this into our lives all the time.
To test our mettle.
Lamp on.
Lamp off.
Where do you stand?….
Where do you sit?……..
He asks of us: How can I testify in the here and now.
The world is experiencing such hurt, such upheaval.
What can little old me do?
A lot.
A word of kindness.
A word of humility.
A word of you are not in this alone.
A word of light💡
May. Make all the difference in the world.
Really.
And the best part.
It is really so easy to do.
We just trip over ourselves in the darkness and forget.
We have the control.
Let’s use it for goodness.
Real goodness.
For the sake of the whole.
”Do not be bedazzled by fashionable behavior.” (pf).
Huh.
There is a lot to be learned from spending time in the trenches of another.
Believe me.
The grunt work is most often the time and place we learn the most about who we are, what we need to do. And what we can do for others.
Goodness.
Only goodness.
A little story.
There was a room. a small and majestic, beautiful room. With pictures, and momentous. And rememberances. A beautiful sentimental journey of hard fought and hard won battles.
But.
There was no light.
There was no honest activity.
So.
Bucking convention.
I turned on the light.
Two actually
I danced with the books, the words of wisdom held deep within the binders of the beauty of the history.
And.
It all came alive.
The hurts of the persons in battle.
Their hurts.
Their fears.
Their triumphs.
Their heatbreaks.
What they carried with them for the rest of their lives.
It seemed so, well trite, to just put them all on the shelf and say,
”Thanks.”
For your service.
To me.
It means more.
It means keeping the memories of the fighters,
Alive.
Per John’s example, give testimony to the meaning of what they had gone through.
and although heartbreaking.
at the same time
Beautiful.
Bravery that solid. Is.
Beautiful.
Never to forget with the momentous intention, yes.
But there was no light.
Shining on the merit of the fighters who fought so hard for
Us.
So.
It seemed prudent fitting and courageous to
Turn the light on.
For the steadfast soldiers, warriors, stewards in training who fought so hard for the lands we walk freely about.
We inherited their toils.
I, for one, have no plans to squander what they sweat blood and tears for in the spirit of their bravery.
The scars they endured deserve a light be shone every minute of every day. It matters. Because, in forgetting, we dis respect.
Unintentionally, certainly. But nonetheless. Forgetfulness is a sign of lazy behavior. Unbecoming.
The days move through the year and we come up to and in the holidays.
The traditions.The ceremonies.
It pales in comparison to the fighters who fought for our freedom to love God. Love one another. Bake the cookies, wear the spiffy sweater. Go the the party.
An invitation to the party.
Whew.
Never a slam duck of having arrived.
None of us would be here were it not for those who came before us and fought the good fight.
When we lay our heads down at night.
We must thank our lucky stars.
There were brave men and women who didn’t blink, and charged in to do what needed to be done.
Even if and when it may have caused them a life of heartaches and headaches.
This.
We are not allowed to forget.
Our testimony is to keep the dreams of these service people alive.
And in honor of them.
Turn the light on.
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