“I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see,” so begins a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson that I loved as a child. Shadows are tricky things. As the poem goes on to describe, they do not behave in usual ways. Sometimes they expand and sometimes they are hardly visible at all.
This time of year, shadows take on an ominous quality for children with big imaginations. Each one just might be a monster waiting to jump out and say, “Boo!” While children enjoy the fun of a good scare, I as an adult need to be a little more cautious in how I deal with the shadows in my life.
See, another interesting thing about shadows is how they can misrepresent the object. Shadows can end up looking distorted and scary, far different from how a room looks with the lights on. We are taught a lot about staying away from the dark things of life, evil things that would be detrimental to our relationship with Jesus. However, there is also danger when there is just a small amount of light on a situation, maybe just enough to distort the truth in our minds.
This is a lot like when my children use flashlights. They do not seem to understand that a flashlight works best when held steadily at the area that needs illumination. Instead, they bounce the beam all over, blinding me and creating a confusing array of shadows that move all over the place. If I don’t allow the Holy Spirit to be my light and I am not using the Bible as the lamp of God that it claims to be, I might end up in a shadow world of half truths and confusion.
Jesus is the Light of The World. He came to take away the darkness and bring everything into the light. I am so grateful that I can bring all of my darkness, problems and worries to Him to shed light on and show me the truth!
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Leave a Reply