Alive: 47 Days of Lent, Day 45

Alive: The eloquence of light

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

Luke 23:44-45 NIV

I remember very clearly the first time the gospel truly clicked for me.

It was during a talk someone gave at a youth group when I was a teenager. They stood at the front and lit a candle. “Doesn’t seem especially bright, does it?” they asked.

Then they turned the lights out. Suddenly, it seemed as though the candle was the only thing that existed. The whole room seemed drawn to the dancing flame as it threw stains of light against the void.

Without darkness, it can be difficult to understand the true eloquence of light.

Unless we step away from our comfort; unless our hearts are torn; unless a body is broken and the sky turns black… we cannot become the light that the world needs.

Dear God,

Help me to see darkness not as something to be feared, but as an opportunity to better understand the light. Help me to take my own light into places of darkness. Amen.

Author: Gideon Heugh, Tearfund

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