Pack of six.
They cost a buck.
My boys love ‘em.
They are my mom-hood survival.
Glow sticks to the rescue.
When either of my boys are having one of those days – the gouge out my eyes / I wanna return you to the hospital – kinda days, I turn out the lights, pull out the glow, and suddenly I have their undivided attention.
Their eyes are transfixed…
The tears stop flowing…
Their shoulder muscles relax…
And a smile the size of New York ensues.
~~~~~
I’m currently reading Acts.
I barely know what to say about that, other than, ya, I have so much to learn.
Yesterday I read this passage:
At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.
~Acts 6:15
The thing you need to know about this passage of scripture is that Stephen is not at the spa.
He’s not boarding an airplane en route to some Mexican resort vay-cay.
He’s not taking a selfie in downtown Disney.
He’s not posing beside 37 shopping bags from an all-day shopping spree.
These are reasons North American’s light up. Not Stephen. Stephen beams while awaiting to be sentenced to death. What!?!?
Heavy stuff.
As I crawled out of bed this morning, I noticed faded glow sticks parked beside my bed. My youngest had placed them there so I would sleep okay and not be afraid of the dark – sweet, right? – and I was reminded how I use those treasures to capture my boys’ attention. I use those little colorful beams of life to calm the day-to-day tensions.
I thought of Stephen.
I pictured him standing in a courtroom with a bunch of men threatening to kill him over something he had said. And in the midst of their temper tantrums – Stephen glowed. He captured their attention by allowing his life to radiate with a brilliance that caused his face to shine like that of an angel.
I thought of myself.
I thought of you.
I thought of Christians in general.
I thought of my motives and the reason I write each and every post.
Every day we are each given opportunity to glow. God desires to break each of us, and use us to be a light in the darkness – not for our own glory, but for HIS.
He desires to shine through us to change the behavior of His kids (the world) around us.
He desires to use us to calm the tensions in each of our pockets of the world.
He desires to use us to help ease the stress of life for people.
He desires to use us to be the reason people smile New York sized smiles.
I’m really ashamed to admit this, but my light dims for far too little on some days. Yesterday I was upset my Keurig died. Ugh, that’s just all kinds of pathetic. I find myself in far too many circumstances where there is no angel brightness on my face.
But what if I thought of my life like that of a glow stick?
What if we woke up every morning with the perspective that it’s a new day to shine? What if we thought of every day as an opportunity to allow God to break us and use us to radiate His glory? What if, every where we went, we were radiating with the brilliance of Christ? So much so, that we caused people to stare as if they had just seen an angel.
Oh my goodness. Goosebumps. I light up just thinking about it! Is this not who we as Christians are supposed to be?
Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept.
~Matthew 5:16
