Difficult circumstances of life have a tendency to cast a darkness over the human situations of life. Sometimes the darkness overshadows our physical body, at times it creeps into our mind, and then there are times it even invades our innermost spirit. Many people today are experiencing various levels of darkness and wondering when a new day will finally dawn.
Robert Lewis Stevenson, best known for his adventure story Treasure Island, experienced poor health during much of his childhood and youth. One night his nurse found him sitting at his window with his nose pressed up against the frosty pane of glass. “Child, come away from there. You’ll catch your death of cold,” she fussed.
But young Robert wouldn’t budge. He sat, mesmerized, as he watched an old lamplighter slowly working his way through the black night, lighting each street lamp along his route. Pointing, Robert exclaimed, “See; look there; there’s a man poking holes in the darkness.”
Maybe you are someone caught in the darkness. One choice is to go further into the darkness and be swallowed up by your difficult situations. Wallowing in the shadows of life tends to destroy body, mind and spirit. Maybe it’s time to press your nose against the window of life and look for the carriers of light. Choose to face outward rather than falling further into the darkness of night.
Maybe you’ve experienced darkness and somehow have come through the clouds of doubt and despair. Maybe it’s time to think about unique ways that you might poke holes in the darkness that is invading so many people in your neighborhood. Remember, when it’s dark it only takes a small ember to poke a hole in the darkness. Our world is in need of lamplighters who bring hope to those who are sitting in the window of life.
John Reitz
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