Rise and Shine

My throat hurts, my sinuses don’t like it, and I’m going stir crazy from a sedentary life. In perspective though, I’m thankful for so many things, that most of the aforementioned seems selfish to care much about currently. It started just about a year ago that I stopped having curtains on my windows. I liked to wake up easier and not cut the light out. I moved and still do the same here. But recently, it’s been a little easier to keep sleeping and not be as good at guessing what time it is due to the smoke that is so thick outside my windows. We’ll cut straight to the point of all this: When the sun’s not shining, it’s easier to stay asleep. 

We are called to be children of light (Ephesians 5 is packed with truth). It’s been easy to dwell on darkness recently. I’ve felt the weight, the mountain of bad news, bad people, friends falling into plight, a steady stream of news updates that are paralyzing, fear accumulating, questions surmounting. You see, people walking in the light, show with their lives love, goodness, righteousness, and truth. When darkness is exposed by light, those things become visible. The thing is, you can’t actually shine, unless you rise. 

“Wake up sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” You can’t turn the brights on unless you wake up. That’s where I get stuck. I have a passion for truth. I believe that is my purpose. Yet I mistake thinking that will happen without my engagement. You can’t get up unless you first wake up, for some of us, you won’t wake up unless you set an alarm. You have to have your sights set on your calling to be illuminated. Back in Ephesians 5 it says to have nothing to do with the darkness. It’s a waste of time. If you want to do something about it, it’s simple. It has nothing to do with the night, but everything to do with the light. It will be shown for what it is, when people see the opposite of what it could be. It proves nothing to shout at the dark to go away, when you can flick on the switch and it dissipates.

Where does that leave us then? Making the most of every opportunity. I realized today-it seems like a obvious observation, but one I had never made, okay? I realized that every time I’ve said something from the heart of Jesus, spoken directly into someone’s life, came up with something almost profound or impactful, or that someone else needed to hear, I’ve asked for it, and specifically listened. Now that should strike you and I. Those things can abound, but they don’t just ‘happen’. Those are the things that inspire me and are the highlights of my life. When I see God at work in such tangible, personal ways, I want nothing else but to be at the heart of it. The light draws people in. When there’s a camp fire, people stand around it and stare into it. When there’s a cabin lit up at night, it’s the picture of warmth. When I am attuned to the heart of God and asking what His heart is for the people around me, what gift He wants to use through me, how I can give self-sacrifically; it starts to look a lot like light, love, goodness, righteousness, and truth. I want to be awake for it. I want to be choosing to live my days as wise in God’s economy. And I get it, it’s overwhelming. The world is paralyzing right now. Too many choices actually move us to more inaction than action. I’m there too. I have no idea how to help calm the chaos our world is in right now. All I want to do is go make a plate of cookies for someone. In the grand scheme of things, maybe that’s not much. But I pray that the big acts I have seen don’t stop after the fires are out. Don’t stop when the smoke is gone. That maybe the fire alarm was the wake up call we needed. Our world isn’t getting any less gloomy. Sorry to be the doom and gloom proclaimer here. It’s not, and as soon as we realize that reality, the better. Where there is darkness, the wicked pursue. Where there is light it tramples out the flames, illuminates the foes. We won’t win by shouting, sleeping, ignoring. We’ll win for choosing to wake, arise, and let Christ shine on, through, over, in us. We are not lost, we are not forsaken. 

Before we can hear, sometimes we have to stop listening to the chaos. Sometimes before I can pray, I have to put down the phone and all the updates. Sometimes for the weight to be lifted, I have to lift praise. Sometimes to make a difference, I have to ask what I can do, even if it seems insignificant here in the moment. I want to take hold of what is mine to possess. When you don’t want to get out of bed, start by putting your feet on the floor, and then declare that you’re here for more.