Light Switch

Company is coming Wednesday. So....I've been cleaning things that have needed cleaning for quite some time! Yesterday it was the corner turn-table cupboard in the kitchen. It REALLY needed to be cleaned!! You know, sometimes things have a tendency to get slung off when the turn-table is going around. Some *unknown substance* had done just that and it was really a sticky mess. So, I had unloaded all the shelves and started cleaning them. The top one was easy...there was nothing above it to drip down on it. And because it was the top shelf, I could easily see what needed to be cleaned. And the second shelf wasn't bad either. But then, oh my, the bottom shelf and the bottom of the cupboard. What things lingered there only the imagination could tell. I started spraying and wiping and the paper towel I was using was....well....disgusting! I couldn't really see what I was doing, where the gunk was coming from, or what it was. And THEN, it occurs to me. TURN ON THE LIGHT!! Rats! Why didn't I think of that sooner!! On goes the light. Amazing what a difference that makes!! I could see that on the bottom of the cabinet was a circle of the *unknown substance* where it had dripped from the round turn-table shelves. That was what was making everything sticky and disgusting. Much more spraying. Much more wiping. LOTS of paper towels!! But at last all of the gunk was gone and I felt good about putting everything back in the cupboard.

As I was spraying and wiping and scrubbing, the Holy Spirit kept whispering to me about how Jesus is the true Light and what He does for our lives. We all (and I certainly speak of myself above all) have some pretty disgusting *gunk* lurking in the dark corners of our lives. If we allow them to remain there, they simply become stickier and gunkier (is that REALLY a word??) by the day. We need to expose every dark corner of our lives to His wonderful light. And you know, things are much scarier and uglier and awful in the dark, but when exposed to His light, they lose much of their gunkiness (now there's ANOTHER one for you). When I was cleaning out the bottom of the cupboard in the dark, it made me shudder to stick my hand back in that far dark corner, but once I turned on the light, I could see what I was dealing with. Life is like that. We are often afraid to deal with the things that lurk in the dark corners of our souls. But when we expose them to His light--the light of His love. THEN we are able to deal with them.

Help me Father, to always let your light shine to the very depths of the darkest recesses of my life. Let me see the things that need to be cleaned. Help me to realize that when the light is on, that it is easier to clean. And then, dear Father, help me to fill those corners with things that are pure and clean and good.

"For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light." So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit...." Eph. 5:8-18

"So don't make judgments about anyone ahead of time--before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due." I Cor. 4:5

"Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. when your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when you eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!" Matt. 6:22-23