We didn’t know when we first created “Inkblots” that my health would demand my body to stay in a pitch-black room or else intense neuro issues would strike.
We were literally and figuratively in the dark.
It was at that time where my husband mentioned that he had grown so accustomed to the nightlight that it seemed bright to him.
Yes, a nightlight. Bright.
I still remember him helping me to the bathroom. Stooping onto the floor he pointed to the nightlight that was amazingly able to illuminate our faces. He launched into an explanation excitedly explaining to me that this was a wonderful parallel to hope at our dark time.
Sometimes the faintest sense of hope can light the way in our darkest moments. And when blackness settles in, that’s when the nightlight’s contrasting hues are at its brightest.
Sometimes when we’re engulfed in utter darkness, we need an offering of hopeful light. And sometimes that little light is all we need to pull us through another day of struggle…
In our season of illness,
In our insecurities,
In a financial chaos,
In the struggles with the pain of being human…
Do you know what, friend? Sometimes I don’t know that we would even NOTICE hope if it weren’t for the moments of darkness. Those moments where we need the light of hope. In the mundane life of everyday normalcy with those seasons that are near perfect, we simply don’t feel the need to cling to hope. Dare I say we can become complacent?
Complacent that the life-giving oxygen stored within our lungs is a miracle.
The ability you have to even read these words- again a miracle. I can still remember two years ago, Michael would attempt to read me a book, and the ability to even try to process his words would sometimes send me into convulsions. It was too much to process. Other times, I wouldn’t go into convulsions, I simply couldn’t understand what his words meant. He would read to me a half a page devotional in the simplest words he could find. Then the predictable question would come, “What did you get out that, Sarah?”
After a long pause, I would say something like, “grace?” In a questioning way, wondering if I had even heard that one syllable word.
You can only imagine when I was able to process words, it truly felt like it was a miracle. But with all the errors that could potentially go wrong in the body, I will still stand by the claim that it is a miracle in your life as well.
Can I dare us something? I dare we see the hopeful light daily through our messy lives by naming exactly what has given us true hope. I know, I know, this is EXTREMELY hard to do. But when Jesus came to earth, He also ushered in His new Kingdom.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.” Mark 1:4 (HCSB)
When He stepped foot here on earth, dear friends, He inaugurated a change. We are not in an utterly corrupt world. It’s fallen, that’s for sure. If we turn our attention to the news, its negative dimness is there for all to see. But since it’s not utterly evil, there may be that slight chance that some good is going on beyond the scene that no reporter is broadcasting.
As James, the brother of Jesus had said,
“Every perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
May we see the gifts of our Father of lights daily. Even if they’re in the smallest nightlight proportions.
