The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:5, NLT)
Our family loves to be outdoors. We particularly like hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains near our home. When the boys were younger, we used to make a game of searching for interesting shadows on the path. We’d pick out the biggest and scariest ones and then work to figure out what ordinary tree or rock cast such a frightening shadow.
First we’d make guesses based on the shape of the shadow itself then look around to see where the shadow originated. Sometimes what cast the shadow was easy to spot, other times, the shadow was so distorted that the original object was unrecognizable.
With a loved one in the military, life can be like that. We can be going along just fine and then a big scary shadow falls across our path. It’s important to remember that shadows are just that—shadows. They are darkness without substance—nothing more than the absence of light. When we encounter shadows that loom and threaten, we shouldn’t focus on the shadow, but instead look at the simple, ordinary thing that’s causing it—it’s a lot less scary than the shadow.
Letting God’s light shine in our lives gives us the strength and confidence to keep moving forward, no matter what shadow pops up here and there.
