“How can we be a light?”

Be a light.

What does that mean?

Everyone’s always talking about letting your light shine; it sounds so easy and simple, but how do you let your light shine? How do you even know that you have a light to shine? Honestly, sometimes I feel like I’m not even noticed. It’s not that I don’t interact with people, it’s that I don’t feel like someone’s watching me—all the time. Sometimes I’m just minding my own: doing my thing. I mean who’s watching me peal an orange? No one—at least I think no one’s watching me. But the crazy thing is people do watch you peal an orange. No all the time, but imagine this: you’re pealing an orange, humming your favorite song while you slowly eat your fruit. Or you’re looking down your nose like you hate everything around you, then you leave the orange peal on the counter and plump down on the couch. Something to watch, right? Who knew you could tell so much about a person when they’re pealing an orange?

Obviously, not everyone’s going to stock you and watch how you eat your fruit, but people notice you when you don’t even realize it. I’ve gotten inspiration from someone without even speaking to them. Simply being in their presence made me happy. I’ve gotten an idea from someone who I saw walking around in Wal-Mart. A big speech or a single word—I’ve gotten inspiration from both.

So, the question still remains: what is a light? No one can force themselves to be a light. It comes naturally from within you—when you have light living inside you. Light comes from Christ. His love sparks a flame in our heart and it grows whenever we’re in the Lord’s presence. So, every day and every night. That flame becomes a fire and that fire gives out light. Light that lives inside you, that shows wherever you go. That light gives you joy, peace, hope, love—all that comes from the Lord. And that shows with everything you do. Even when you’re having a bad day and feel like plumping down on the couch. If you keep feeding that light, when the cloudy days come, it won’t let you sulk. Because you know that a bad day, week, month or a year doesn’t define the rest of your life. It doesn’t define you.

Yes, letting your light shine sounds confusing and a little cliché, but it all comes from within. We don’t have to worry about doing everything right and always smiling: we have to feed the light within us, with God’s word. And simply remind ourselves that the Lord is with us—everywhere. Be who God guides us to be and love others. (He loved us enough to die for us.) Help others as He helped others. Be kind. Feed your light with the word of God and live it out every day, all your life. Shining a light will come naturally . . . if we let God’s light shine on us.

May God bless you all and I’ll talk to you next time.

Until then,
Maria